


On the Edge of Reality

by HansoldMySoul, PandiBear



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Death, Gore, Like really slow, M/M, Platonic Johnny/Mark - Freeform, Platonic Relationships, Random cameos from other SM artists, Slow Burn, Survival, Warning! Pairings listed might not be end game, Zombies, and blood, like a lot of it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-02
Updated: 2018-06-08
Packaged: 2018-08-18 23:25:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 31,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8179783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HansoldMySoul/pseuds/HansoldMySoul, https://archiveofourown.org/users/PandiBear/pseuds/PandiBear
Summary: Surviving in an apocalyptic world is not easy, even breathing too loudly can get you killed. Groups of young survivors join together to live, grow, and experience things they never thought they would be able to experience again.[It's the end of the world and in order to grow from ordinary people into survivors, these young adults are gonna have to learn whole new way of life. It isn't going to be easy.][Ambiguous Pairings, Zombie au,  lots of character death/Violence/Gore.]





	1. One

** Date: 24th September 2016 **

** Time: 23:45 PM **

** Location: O'Hare International Airport, Chicago **

** -:-:-:- **

 

Screams echoed. Footsteps fast. Breathing heavy.

The once white walls were now a brilliant, velvety red.

The whole airport was in chaos, the loud speakers sending out warnings of the last flights departing.

A tall boy ran, eyes desperately searching as he called a name in fright. "Mark!" He wiped his sweaty, brown bangs from his eyes as he tried to hear a response over the loud screams and shouts that surrounded him.

 

A young pink haired boy searched desperately, eyes constantly scanning the area as he moved around restlessly. The airport was packed, when they arrived it only took him a few minutes before he found himself being pushed away from his only form of support, Johnny, a boy a few years older than himself who was ‘looking after’ him after promising the younger boys parents that he would do so. They had been friends for years and at that moment he was all Mark had. 

Ten minutes of painful shoves and angry curses being thrown at him before he escaped the stampede of terrified citizens.

Continuing on his search he heard a familiar shout of his name. Stopping was his immediate reaction, but of course it wasn't the right one as he felt his body being tackled to the ground, jaw hitting the ground harshly, leaving him dazed from pain. He heard a terrified shout of his name coming from the distance, he knew what was going to happen and immediately forced his eyes closed waiting for the painful impact of the bite which would ultimately kill him.

The bite never came, he felt the weight being thrown off of him before he was yanked off the ground and onto his unsteady feet, his shoulders securely being held by a pair of thin hands. Opening his eyes he saw a cat-like man who looked quite a few years older than himself dressed in a staff uniform, a quick glance at the name tag read _'Hi My Name is: Key'_.

"Kid! Don't just stand there, run!"

He had no time to respond before he felt himself being pushed in the direction of the exit, knowing this was the wrong direction Mark swung back around only to bump into a tall figure, said figure pulled him into a hug before pulling back so they could see him properly. “Are you hurt? Did you get bit?” Mark shook his head slowly as the older boy frantically scanned his body with his eyes.

Johnny huffed out a relieved sigh before promptly grabbing onto the boys smaller hand, pulling him in the direction of the plane which would be taking them to Korea.

“We don’t have long, the planes are all rushing to take off. From what I could tell they are already talking about shutting off all flights to stop the risk of infection from reaching other places, so we have to hurry”. Mark complied silently as he picked up his pace. As they jogged Mark could hear the grunts and growls that came from the creatures, the sounds filling his head as he thought back to a few hours prior when the noise had been the only noise around as he watched his parents get tackled to the ground before being turned away by Johnny, the older boy silently mourning as he made no move towards them, rather pulling distressed boy further away.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when the older boy spoke to him.

"Stay close” he was tempted to reply back with something sarcastic but decided that it might not be the best time, his sarcasm wouldn't be properly appreciated right now anyway. Of course he probably wouldn’t be able to come up with a good retort, his mind too panicked with what was happening around them, but h wasn’t going to admit to that.

The bad situation took a turn for the worst when Mark heard a shrill scream from behind them, they both turn to see a young girl, no older than five, scream out at the sight of the monster, successfully drawing the attention of several other creatures which were close by. Johnny shook his head and grasped onto Mark’s t-shirt as he saw the younger boy move to help. The pink haired boys’ head snapped back as he felt the tug. 

“Let go.”

“No.”

Johnny quickly pulled Mark away as he saw the first zombie reach the young girl, h spun him around as he watched the creature fall on the girl, effectively pinning her to the ground before sinking its teeth into her cheek. Mark tensed as he heard the scream, fighting to turn but being held in place helplessly. “I’m sorry, we couldn’t have done anything” Johnny whispered before he quickly dragged the boy further to the safety of the terminal. 

Johnny had seen, he had watched at the little girls blond hair started to stain with her own blood, the creature ripping a chunk of her cheek of before diving back down to feast on her soft neck. He heard as he screams turned to gurgles as he choked on her blood and prayed that her pain would be over soon as he pulled the younger boy away, preventing him from seeing the disturbing sight.

'What was he thinking? How could he leave her like that?' he so badly wanted to shout at the brunette, mouth half open to actually voice his thoughts, however when he tried nothing but a chocked sob greeted him, he swore he could still hear the girls gurgled screams.

His mind was in shambles as they managed to board the plane, his mind running 

** -:-:-:- **

** Date: 25th September, 2016 **

** Time: 00:33 PM **

** Location: Airplane flying from Chicago, America to Seoul, South Korea **

** -:-:-:- **

 

Tense mutters could be heard throughout the plane, nobody dared to fall asleep, despite the long journey ahead. The first class section was bright but not comforting, the lights fake and unpleasant to the eye. Mark sat stiffly in one of the comfortable chairs, his pink hair messy and eyes dark as he stared straight ahead, eyes unfocused and weary. Usually the high class chairs would be nothing but comfortable when he travelled around but on that day they felt lumpy and hard, Mark knew that they weren't really, they were the same as they always were but his mind was telling him that nothing about their situation was comfortable or safe.

Everyone on board the plane were hoping to escape the infection, most were Koreans who wanted to seek shelter in their home country, the rest were heading to one of the places they had heard was almost completely free from infection. There had been news that it had begun to spread in one of the rural areas but the countries government had been constantly reassuring that they had the town under strict quarantine and would have the infection cleared within days. 

The young pink haired male couldn’t help but feel angry at his situation, he didn’t want to go to Korea, Korea was not his home, Canada was. He was born and raised in there, having only visited Korea a few times to visit his grandparents and other relatives of his parents, so he was not familiar with the country. He wanted to go back to Canada, he didn’t want to be here in Chicago or Korea, neither of these places were his home and yet he was going to die in one of them.

Mark also wasn't stupid, unlike like the other people on board he knew that even if it was safe now it wouldn't stay that way for long, within hours the infection would probably have reached there too, it was only a matter of time before it spread around the world, they were just sitting ducks as they travelled to the _'sanctuary'_ which was Korea.

Johnny sat quietly, the silence around him was heavy as he avoided turning towards the boy next to him. He knew the younger was mad at him and for good reason as far as he was concerned. The day had been long and hard, ever since he had been abruptly woken up this morning (afternoon) to the loud crash of two cars colliding just outside his house and the endless buzz of his ever annoying ringtone (which did its job of making him answer the phone as quickly as possible much the tall boys annoyance). He had made some really fucked up decisions within the last few hours but refused to regret them as he had managed to protect Mark, something he would never regret, no matter what the younger boy would think of him.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a soft rumbling noise come from directly beside him, turning his head slightly he was Mark was still curled tightly into a ball on his chair, the same position he had taken as soon as they had found their seats. The boy did not even flinch at the sound of his own stomach, eyes hardly blinking as he stared forward, eyes looking nowhere in particular. Johnny wanted to be concerned but knew the younger boy was just shocked, he was a strong boy and would get past this as soon as he was in a more stable environment. Soon they would be arriving in Korea where they would stay with a friend of Johnny's, Mark would be able to live peacefully until the government were able to sort out the mess that the bioterror incident had caused.

"Mark, you need to eat". The younger boy ignored his Hyung, refusing any food offered. If he was to be honest, he would tell the older boy that he wasn't hungry, he hadn't been ever since he had been separated from his parents, or since he watched his neighbours be torn apart as he escaped like the coward he was. He knew that physically his body was craving for any sort of food, he needed food in order to stay strong, something which would be essential in order to protect himself, however he also knew that anything he did eat had no guarantee of staying down, so for now the best option was to just let his stomach settle. 

If only he had never gone to Chicago, if he didn't maybe he would be safe in Canada right now, sitting peacefully at home with his parents. This was all wishful thinking, they _had_ gone to Chicago and he is no longer with is parents, he was travelling to a strange place with a boy he would rather not see at that moment in time. If he was a coward then Johnny was something else completely. 

Johnny sighed as the younger male ignored him once again, bringing the boys table down and placing the food in hopes that the boy would actually eat later when he realised that his hunger was more important than completely ignoring the taller boy. Johnny hadn't realised that one small mistake in a desperate situation would lead to Mark completely hating him. Honestly though even if he had the chance to go back and change what he had done, he wouldn't, he wasn’t ashamed of his decision, Mark's safety was his priority and even if it meant having the younger boy hate him he would continue to protect him until his very last breath.

He knew he was selfish, but he didn't regret it and probably never would. Johnny was certain Mark was still mad at him for his actions at the airport but he had no choice, if he went back for the young girl then he might have put Mark in danger which was something he would never do, at least not intentionally.

"I had to do it, you know it as well" he stated, not bothering to ask a question as he knew he would never receive an answer. "If I helped her I could have put you in danger." he spoke calmly, he just wanted the younger boy to talk to him, to understand his point of view.

"I didn't ask for your help" Mark snapped out, not even bothering to turn around and face the older boy. Johnny flinched at the boys tone, hurt by how lowly the boy seemed to think of him. Johnny breathed deeply, willing himself to ignore the hurtful behaviour the boy was showing, Mark was stressed and confused by everything that had happened and he understood that.

"You're right, you never asked for my help, but you don't need to ask for my help because I'll be there to help you even when you stay quiet. Please, Mark, I just wanted to help. I promised your parents I would look after you and that's what I will do, no matter the cost." He poured his heart out to the boy but was met by an empty silence once again.

Johnny didn't bother trying to say anything else, the younger boy was clearly not ready to speak to him. If it was time he needed, it was time he was going to get but if it was space he needed then it wasn't something Johnny was willing to give, he was now the boys guardian and would do anything he could in order to protect him.

 

-:-:-:-

** Date: 25th September, 2016 **

** Time: 05:00am **

 

The older American boy felt his eyes start to drift close, they had already been on the plane for hours and would be there for a lot more. Just as he was about to allow himself the relief of sleep he heard rustling from beside him, without opening his eyes he listened as the younger boy moved to sit up before starting to eat what Johnny assumed was the food he had gotten for him previously.

Mark did not eat for long but stayed sitting up after he had finished, Johnny was pleasantly surprised as he felt the younger drape one of the soft, plane provided blankets over him, fighting the relieved smile which was threatening to reveal itself. After hearing no more movement from the boy, he slowly allowed himself to fall into a dark, fear inducing sleep.

Mark sat quietly, simply watching the clouds through the window, they were not interesting so the seventeen year old quickly became bored, choosing instead to look around the section of the plane he was currently seated inside. The bright lights were now off, most people choosing to sleep, but sleep was something Mark dared not to do. Every time the boy closed his eyes he was haunted by the images of innocent people being torn apart, their blood decorating the surroundings in a bright red which would soon turn to a less than pleasant rusty brown colour.

Soft snores could be heard, Mark was happy that so many people were able to sleep despite the horror they had been through, but at the same time he was jealous of them, they were sleeping so peacefully while he stayed awake, his mind becoming his own enemy as it constantly replayed the events that had played out. He didn't want to blame Johnny but he didn't know what else to do, he was frustrated and he had no one else he could push that frustration onto other than the only familiar person around him. Turning to look at the older boy he saw the other sleeping sloppily in his chair, long legs carelessly thrown on the floor, Mark felt a small smile tug at his lips, _'some things will never change'_.

Johnny twitched in his sleep, eyes flying opening as if he had been woken from a nightmare (which he probably had). He turned his head so fast Mark was sure he had heard a _crack_.

Looking to the side the first thing his eyes met with were the eyes of Mark, the latter looking away as soon as he realised he had been caught looking at the elder. Johnny didn't even register the fact that the younger had finally shown another emotion other than hate towards him, his mind was too clouded by the thick relieve of realising that Mark was here next to him, he was safe. He sagged down in his seat, opening his mouth to voice the relief he felt after the tragic nightmare he had woken up from just moments before, only to choke because of his own dry throat. 

Mark grimaced at the sound and wordlessly dropped a full bottle of water into the brunettes lap, the older taking it wordlessly before chugging down half the bottle. “Thanks” Mark responded with a quick nod before turning his attention back to the room around him, pausing when he saw movement from the left. He watched silently as a girl shoved several water bottles into her backpack. After a few seconds he did the same, the girl obviously thought that they were not in the clear once they arrived in Korea, much like himself. 

Johnny watched as Mark shoved two water bottles into his backpack. He shook his head, he knew Mark was weary but it seemed too far to be taking precautions like that. Despite his disapproval he did not speak up, if packing water bottles would relieve his a bit, then he would let him. 

“You should get some rest” 

Mark looked at him briefly before nodding hesitantly and lying down against his seat. Johnny smiled, happy that younger might get some rest. Once he was sure the younger was actually settling down, he too closed his eyes, willing himself into a dreamless slumber.

 

** -:-:-:- **

** Date: 25th September 2016 **

** Time: 15:13 PM **

** Location: Seoul, South Korea **

** -:-:-:- **

 

Loud music played throughout the soundproof dance studio, mirrored walls reflecting six bodies easily meeting the powerful beats coursing throughout the small room. Cameras were set up in the room, recording the newest routine the viral dance troupe had choreographed. SM, or special movements, were a famous, six member dance group known well to the younger generation of Korea, popularity increasing everyday due to their rising popularity internationally for their strong performances and ‘perfect’ visuals.

 

The youngest female member stumbled slightly before regaining her steps almost immediately, unfortunately 'almost' was not good enough, they strived for perfection and would not accept anything less.

"Stop!"

The loud music stopped abruptly, the dancers flopped to the floor where they stood, exhaustion seen on their faces as their loud breathing filled the now quiet room.

"What now Taeyong?" The blonde, blank faced male was the first one to break the silence, annoyance lacing his tone as he looked at their silver haired leader. In response said male turned towards a young brunette female, her unique green dip-dyed hair sticking to her face as she readied herself for the incoming onslaught of complaints.

The rant never came as the calm young man simply stated "Sooyoung, you were completely off beat".

Sooyoung slowly nodded her head as she spoke, "I'll watch my steps next time". The only response she received was a sigh as Taeyong slid to the floor, the mirrored wall supporting his back as he wiped his face with the towel he had placed on the floor at the beginning of practice. Jaehyun stood, walking slowly towards one of the cameras and turning the device off before walking around the room and doing the same for the other three cameras.

"Let's leave it here for today Tae, Krystal and I want to go on a date before her older sister can kidnap her again" an attractive golden skinned male said from the other side of the room, his arm wrapped around the waist of an equally beautiful female, who just laughed at her boyfriend as she leaned forward to peck him on the lips.

Taeyong rolled his eyes at the couple good naturedly, trying not to laugh at Sooyoung as she whined loudly complaining at the public display of affection. He looked towards Jaehyun, who's features were lit up into a bright smile, eyes forming small crescents that made his already attractive face become even more so, something that most would probably not think possible until they saw it.

"Why don't we all hang out? It's been a while anyway" Krystal suggested, slapping Kai as he loudly protested taking away their 'alone time'.

"Hush, I can't stay long anyway so let’s hang out today. I have to pick Amber up at the airport at seven, I'm not looking forward to traffic at that time is going to be horrendous, especially because everyone is freaking out over that virus which has been spreading through America." the group agreed, laughing about how everyone always over reacts about these things, like with swine flu or other epidemics which scared the population a million times before.

"You know there are rumours that the virus is making the dead walk, American's are trying to flee and apparently it's already hit some places in Asia." Sooyoung spoke softly, head down so her hair covered her face slightly. The room was silent for a few minutes before rambunctious laughter filling the studio. Sehun who had been sitting next to Joy, ruffled her hair sympathetically "those rumours are made so naive people like you become scared. Don't take any notice of it."

“But I heard that it was already in Korea, I can’t remember where but it was already here” Sooyoung protested, obviously distressed by the news. Krystal huffed and walked over to the younger girl, pulling her up into a side hug. “Don’t worry so much even if something does happen we all have each other” Krystal nudged her playfully until she smiled and nodded. 

“Great! Now that’s sorted lets go and wash up, we need to get out and eat before Krystal ditches us” Jaehyun joked, laughing as he avoided being hit by the older girl. The group stood, going to the shower room only to return a few minutes later, hairs dripping wet and clothes changed as they collected their bags, they waiting until everyone was ready before leaving their studio, Kai physically dragging Sehun after the younger had tried to sneak away. 

The lights were off, the room shrouded in darkness. Minutes went by, the atmosphere becoming tense as if it knew the next time the dancers returned they would be incomplete, the damage would be done and none of them would ever be the same again. 

** -:-:-:- **

** Time: 18:35 PM **

 

"Guys I think we should quiet down, the waitress over there looks like she's about to come over and flip our table" Kai stage whispered sending the other dancers into another round of rambunctious laughter. Krystal wiped a tear from her eye, tossing a sachet of sugar at Kai who was seated opposite her. Joy started laughing as she watched Kai flail around in order to dodge the small packet of sweetness, fanning as soon as she calmed down, her face bright red from lack of oxygen.

Sehun sat quietly, slipping on his bubble tea as Jaehyun sat playing with his hair, tying small ponytails on the top of his head. After finishing his 'masterpiece' he took a few pictures to upload onto the group twitter.

Taeyong, who had been watching the two simply shaking his head, although inside he was silently thankful that he wasn't the one Jaehyun decided to play hairdressers on. Turning away from his two friends he noticed a small commotion close to their table, two young girls were pushing a third flushed girl towards the table, she shook her head trying her hardest to escape her friends as they pushed her closer.

Amused, Taeyong coughed, successfully gaining the attention of the girls who were clearly fans of theirs, smiling he beckoned them over. "We don't bite, how can we help you?” He ignored Sehun’s comment of ‘unless you want me too’ and his question was answered as a cute pink notebook was shyly handed over to him, "do you want us to sign?” The blushing fan quickly nodded and watched quietly as Taeyong passed her book around the table, every member signing it with encouraging messages.

Handing the book back to the poor girl, who now looked like she was about to overheat with how flushed her face had gotten, he watched as the girls bowed quickly before rushing away, shoving each other excitedly as they no doubt chattered excitably about their luck. Relaxing back into his seat Taeyong watched happily as his friends played around with each other, his concentration only broken when he felt a tug at his hair.

Turning, Taeyong saw Jaehyun was now armed with more hairbands, which he had no doubt borrowed (read: stolen) from Sooyoung's bag when the youngest female had not been looking. Sighing quietly under his breath, Taeyong mentally prepared himself to whatever horrifying fate Jaehyun had in mind for his hair that day.

Kai, who had been looking at his phone, looked at Sooyoung and waved his phone. “Hey look, the scary little infection you were talking about made it to Seoul” he laughed as he saw the younger girl pale, obviously scared of the news. Krystal rolled her eyes and slapped her boyfriend’s arm, berating him for being. “Ignore him” Krystal comforted her before changing the subject to cheer the younger girl up. 

The loud chattering of the group (and Taeyong's hair being tortured) was stopped as Krystal stood, picking up her bags. Jaehyun stopped fiddling with Taeyong's hair as he turned to look at Krystal, sending her a questioning look. The oldest female laughed at the look before answering the unspoken question, "As much as I love you all, especially you Sehun-" Kai whined at his girlfriend’s joke as she continued, choosing to ignore the puppy like dancer "-and want to stay, I can't, I need to pi-".

A loud scream cut the beautiful girl off before she could finish her sentence. Panicked voices could be heard as people started to gather around something outside of the coffee shop. Curious, Taeyong stood, his friends following closely behind him as he exited the shop. The crowd wasn't big, Taeyong easily pushed through to see what everyone was so interested in.

At the middle of the ring of people lay a middle aged man bleeding on the floor, his face sweaty as if he was suffering from a fever. Honestly Taeyong didn't understand the big deal, they should just give the guy space as he waited for medical help, instead of crowding around him like a flock of sheep being herded in by the farmer. These thoughts were abandoned, his face becoming pale as he heard the young female sitting next to the injured male release a horrified "he's not breathing".

'How? The injury wasn’t that bad' the confused silver haired dancer thought as he looked at the injury. Moving closer he inspected the wound, his confusion increasing when he saw what looked to be a human bite mark on the man’s ankle.

Krystal bent down next to the man immediately, she checked his pulse again but found none. Changing her positions she kneeled over the man ready to start chest compressions when she noticed the man's hand move. She moved close to the man’s head, putting her ear close to the man’s chest to listen for breathing.

Jaehyun, who was standing behind her watched in horror as the man’s hands reached towards his friend, hands tightly gripping her head and shoulder before he heard a pained scream coming from the girl. Everything was a blur as people stood there, in shock as they tried to understand what had happened. Kai was the first person to move as he immediately kicked the man away, pulling Krystal into a protective hug.

Jaehyun managed to pull himself out of the shock to move towards his friends, his movements were stopped as he was suddenly pulled backwards as the crowd let out a terrified screech. The now bloody man had gotten onto his feet and tried was ready to launch himself at Jaehyun. Taeyong, who was now closer to younger male after moving away as the man had bitten his elder female friend, quickly pulled the younger male away from the man when he saw he was the crazy male’s second target of attack.

The silver haired leader was not given even a second to move before he was grabbed by Sooyoung who pulled him into a run to follow the rest of the group to escape from the bloody scene, Kai falling behind as he carried the heavily bleeding Krystal.

 

-:-:-:-

** Time: 19:00 PM **

 

The group ran to the first place they could think of, the dance studio. They didn’t stop running until they were securely locked inside the familiar studio, knowing they were guaranteed safety with the top brand security systems they had installed a while before. As the door shut heavy breathing was heard throughout the moderate sized room as they tried to catch their breath. Kai dropped to the floor, quickly mumbling things that Jaehyun could not hear into Krystal's ear, placing her softly onto the floor and tried to wipe the blood from the girl's face.

Sooyoung joined the two on the floor, carefully looking at the wound on the elder girls neck before wrapping the wound using her soft orange scarf. "We need to get her to a hospital, she's going to bleed out if we don't" she said as Jaehyun joined them on the floor, while Taeyong stood protectively above them eyes wide and alert as he looked around them despite there being no chance of danger in their own private place.

"She's dead" Sooyoung said shocked as she pulled her hand away from the pale girl’s neck. Silence permeated the room as Jaehyun moved back, pulling Sooyoung away with him, confusion and denial written on his face. The group was silent, the exception being Kai who had started denying what the younger girl had said. "Sh- She's not, she can't be, we just need to get her help that's all, we ca-" the boys mumblings were stopped as Sehun hit him, tears streaming down his face.

Taeyong could only watch in shock as the usually blank faced male, began shaking his best friend as he pulled him from the room. "Did you not see what just happened?! The rumours were, the dead is rising and they are killing the living, we saw what that man did." He pointed harshly towards Krystal "the same is going to happen to you if you don't move away from her." Kai glared at his friend, disbelieve running through him at how quickly he could say such a thing about a friend. 

Taeyong quickly stepped closer, pulling the two boys apart as if sensing the oncoming fight. "Sehun's right, Kai". The eldest male stood abruptly, his body visibly shaking as he stared at the fellow dancers, his friends, in betrayal. "What do you want me to do? To just leave her here?" he scoffed "that man was probably crazy, he was just some escaped mental patient or something. The dead can't just get up and walk, this isn't a movie and Krystal deserves more than just being left here”.

Jaehyun stopped the oldest boy as he tried to walk back towards their now dead friend, holding the boy tightly as he tried to escape, Taeyong soon joining him to ensure he was unable to break free.

 

Time passed slowly, everyone seated to the sides of the room as far away from the once beautiful girl as they possibly could. Joy was browsing her phone, all of her social networks were talking about the sudden outbreak happening within the country. She dropped the phone onto the floor and buried her head in her drawn-up knees. 

The usually life-filled room was quiet, Jaehyun was sure he had never heard it so quiet before, not since they started renting the studio out, it had always been so alive. Now it was filled by a silence which should never have existed in this special space, a deadness in the room than none of them ever dreamed of being in the presence of. Taeyong was sure that once this situation was sorted they would never see the space the same way again. He knew for sure they were no longer going to be renting the place. 

“You know, the government has put up warning for evacuation and told citizens to stay at home until someone comes for them” Sooyoung mumbled quietly as she lifted her head, tearful eyes glancing around. Sehun shook his head and walked over to her, sitting beside her and pulling her into a comforting hug. Kai watched them with blank eyes before turning back to watch Krystal’s still form. 

The group feel back into an uncomfortable silence, none of them knowing what to do next so they chose to do nothing. Slow, strained breathing was the noise that eventually broke the silence, Kai shooting up to run over to where the breathing was heard, only to be tackled to the floor before he could run towards his lover. Kai tried to protest but Jaehyun – who had tackled him, covered his mouth to quiet him.

The air in the room grew tense, nobody even daring to breathe out of fear, even Kai stopped fidgeting and stayed frozen on the ground. They watched as Krystal started to move, her movements slow and clumsy as she started to get up. What truly shocked the young dancers was the pale, glossed over eyes which replaced the once bright brown eyes of their friend.

Taeyong edged towards the weights they kept to the side of the studio, picking one up while keeping his eyes fixed on the creature standing on the other side of the room. It was staring blankly, it seemed to be blind and was instead depending on its sense of smell and hearing. Nobody dared move, clearly all understanding the creatures weakness.

Unfortunately this silence did not last as the creatures head snapped towards Sooyoung, the only female having dropped her phone from her heavily shaking hands. She screamed as the creature launched itself towards her and Sehun, the older boy shielding her. It was stopped mid-air only as Taeyong hit it violently with the weight, the leader had taken action as soon as he heard the phone drop. Kai let out an angry yelp and was about to intervene when he heard the horrific growl come from his ‘girlfriend’, he watched in fear as she once again stood up, her bloody head dented as she moved towards Taeyong.

Raising the weight again, Taeyong brought it down in a killing blow against the creatures head, an audible crack from the skull as the body fell heavily to ground, blood quickly covering the once spotless floor. Seeing the mess, the silver haired boy dropped the weight, disturbed at the fact he had just ‘killed’ one of his friends.

The silence was so thick it could have been cut with a knife, quiet sniffles turned into distressed cries as Sooyoung sank to the floor, her eyes never leaving the body of her best friend. 

"How could you?" the golden skinned dancer spoke softly, his voice almost too quiet to hear. "How could you kill her? She was your friend!" he tried to move towards the leader only to be pulled away by Sehun, tears dried on his distressed face. "What did you want him to do? She was dangerous, if he did nothing then she would have killed Sooyoung or Sehun. Is that what you wanted?" Jaehyun's voice was loud in the too quiet studio, he shook in anger when the oldest boy tried to place the blame on their now silent leader.

Kai said nothing, simply storming out of the room as angry tears continued to fall down his face. Sehun moved to go after him, stopping briefly to pat Taeyong's shoulder, "you did the right thing, she wasn't herself anymore." was the last thing he said before he left the room.

Not long after, Sooyoung stood up shakily, Jaehyun rushed over to help steady her. She moved towards Taeyong and lightly pressed a kiss to his check. "Thanks, I don't know what you guys are going to do but I- I need to check on my family, I have to make sure they're okay." She moved away from Taeyong and gave a quick hug to Jaehyun before moving to the door, turning to face them while giving them both a breath taking smile "I can only hope this isn't goodbye, but if it is then-" she paused turning towards the door "good luck." She quickly left the room, the door falling shut with an audible 'click' after she disappeared.

Jaehyun turned towards Taeyong "aren't you going to look for your family?" Taeyong released a bitter laugh "you of all people should know that I don't care what happens to them, it's the same for them, and they probably hope I'm already dead".

Jaehyun looked down at the floor, saddened by the older boy’s harsh confession, knowing it was more than likely true. "I'm going to go home, my parents should still be there. What are you going to do?" Looking up from the floor, Jaehyun stared into the warm eyes of his friend.

"I'm going with you." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: The first chapter is back out! It took longer than I thought but I hope you all enjoy it. :)
> 
>  
> 
> We're going to try and get the other two chapter we originally posted back out by the end of the month and then we're going to try and get at least one chapter out each month after that.
> 
> If you enjoyed please feel free to leave a comment or kudos as we like to hear what you all thought.


	2. Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which Doyoung's a headass and Jaehyun might have a bicycle kink.
> 
> Starting the apocalypse off right.

Date: September 25th, 2016

Time: 14:12 PM

Location: Pyeongchang-Dong, Seoul, South Korea.

Doyoung didn't look twice, disregarding the wide-screen TV with the urgent warning banner scrolling across the bottom of the chaotic news report with less interest than he'd regard the prospect of extra homework (On top of his post grad work).

That was his first mistake.

Let it be known that Kim Dongyoung, known to most as Doyoung, was about as far from unobservant as was humanly possible but he was brash and often brushed off notions that didn't suit his way of thinking. His dismissal of the news report stemmed from the fact that Taeil had called moments before and insisted that he watch it, something that he wasted no time in viewing as a challenge and promptly ignoring. That, coupled with the fact that he was in a rush to get out the door, unwilling to let down the project group by being late again made it easy to miss the warning, typeset in bold letters that warned everyone watching to:

'Stay inside where possible, lock and barricade all possible entrances/exits. Do not travel into the city under any circumstances! The infection is spreading at unprecedented rate! This is not a false alarm.'

The effects of that casual ignorance had not been immediately evident, the walk through the quiet Pyeongchang neighbourhood that he'd lived in all his life, no different from any other time aside from possibly managing to be infinitely more boring than ever. In fact, the most thrilling part of his journey had been almost tripping over the Jung's wayward garden hose and giving the sheepish groundskeeper a disgruntled look before continuing on his way.

However, the further he got from his home and as such, the closer he got to the city, Doyoung started to notice little things that were amiss... Small things that wouldn't seem so out of place to others but his over-analytical brain registered them as strange and out of the ordinary. First it was the broken car window, obviously smashed from the outside with a heavy object from the way the reinforced, tinted glass had bowed under the pressure before being futilely peeled away by hasty fingers. The glove compartment had been ransacked and left hanging open but the expensive dashboard remained untouched which was what alerted Doyoung to the fact that it hadn't been merely an act of thievery. Small streams of blood marred the messy scene but whoever had committed the act obviously wasn't slowed by their injuries as they were now nowhere to be seen.

It wasn't odd for the streets to be empty given the time of day and the sparse houses that littered the upscale neighbourhood but it was strange to see the scenery looking anything other than pristine and unprompted, doubts niggled at the back of Doyoung's mind no matter how flippantly he tried to push them aside.

Upon turning the corner that would have lead him on the path to the Central District, Doyoung caught his first glimpse of someone else. Several feet away and seemingly completely unaware of his presence all together, a man was staggering in the other direction, limping and with one hand hung limply at his side. The injured hand dripped blood periodically and Doyoung's first thought was that he'd found the culprit of the petty robbery down the street, it was a logical deduction and the right thing to do would have been to walk the other way and not get involved. Any rational mind would remove themselves from the situation to avoid finding themselves in troublesome situations.

However, Doyoung was nothing if not inanely irrational.

Quietly, so as not to startle the man, he crept forward with one hand clasped around the crisp handle of his favourite bag which he’d made a last minute decision to finally drag out of the closet. The closer he got, the more something told Doyoung that he should leave as quickly as his legs would take him. It wasn’t a feeling that he would usually have taken lightly but the only thing that overshadowed his natural gut instinct was the overbearing sense of curiosity that came with the untrodden situation he found himself in.

The man continued to stumble forward, unknowing of or unbothered by Doyoung’s silent pursuit which suited the boy just fine until he was forced to stop when the silence was broken by a stone skittering across the floor when it made contact with his shoe after a misplaced step. Everything changed in that moment and Doyoung found himself thankful that he had honed reflexes and a quick, calculative mind. The man turned, not an accusatory spin on his foot ready to yell upon discovering the tail he’d apparently picked up along the way but in a grotesque jumble of limbs that would have sent a lesser man running.

His head turned first, the neck bent at an angle that should have been impossible with the spinal cord still intact but Doyoung didn’t suppose that the face that stared back at him unseeing could really be counted as alive in any capacity. It was impossible to make out the details from a distance, something with Doyoung was marginally grateful for, but it was easy to make out pallid skin littered with broken blood vessels close to the surface and deep lacerations that almost certainly should have cut off the majority of facial functions due to severed muscles and nerves. Then there were the eyes, a stare that revealed blood-shot sclera and some sort of milky film that obscured whatever inconsequential colour the iris’ may have once been. If he’d had longer to deliberate, Doyoung’s mind probably would have run through a million and one medical conditions that could have caused such extensive damage but it did flicker back to several unimportant reports over the past months; stories deemed as crazy or unbelievable of the dead coming back to life with a hunger for the living or people being mauled to death but written off a mugging gone wrong or an aggravated attack.

Then all at once, in a rush that would have brought any once else to the ground, the man thing twisted it’s torso and arms to face him and leapt in a flurry of extended hands and garbled gasping sounds that certainly were not human speech however he looked at it.

Testing his theory that whatever it was couldn’t actually see him, Doyoung didn’t panic and throw himself out of the way of the incoming creature, instead taking several silent steps to the side and observing as it fell to ground and momentarily made no move to pursue him any further. The spectacle was almost enough to make him want to stick around and find out as much as he could about the mottled shadow of a human that he’d somehow stumbled upon. Almost. Kim Doyoung was a very busy person so he instead made the, for once, rational decision to keep moving forward quietly so that whatever that thing was wouldn’t deign to follow him and try that whole lunging thing all over again. Yeah, not fun.

After taking several steps Doyoung had an idea and stopped momentarily to pull his pencil case from his bag and extract a marker from its confines before shoving it back in as quickly and as quietly as possible. From there, it was a piece of cake to backtrack and find a nice, undamaged car window near the abomination to leave a friendly message that would hopefully help out anyone that wasn’t fortunate enough to possess the same smarts as himself. In clear, block capitals he wrote just two words that would probably go on to save more than a few lives.

‘IT’S BLIND.’

After a second he added several more words that he didn’t think he’d ever write with his own two hands.

‘IT’S TRUE WHAT THEY SAY. THE DEAD ARE WALKING.’

He moved away just in time to watch the creature throw itself at the unoffending window, nails scratching and smudging blood over the previously pristine surface as though it had done something to personally offend him. The thing was none of his business and Doyoung turned on his heel, leaving without another thought as to its origin or purpose. He’d exhausted his curiosity and now he was going to be very late for yet another study session and he wasn’t quite ready to listen to Rowoon bitch about the merits of punctuality on personal mind set and an overall enjoyable college experience.

//

His journey was mildly uneventful as far as the rest of it went and Doyoung managed to almost completely forget about the encounter by the time he hit the outer limits of the city. As it just so happened, amnesia was apparently not in his cards for the foreseeable future because things degenerated into chaos slightly faster than his analytical mind was able to keep up with when he was faced with the South of the city populated with two more of those strange creatures, the similarities too much with the man he’d seen before to ignore, staring back at him (Only they weren’t staring, much less at him because they were quite clearly blind and he hadn’t done so much as breath to alert them to his presence and maybe he was being slightly dramatic in his thoughts when talking about the state of the city because it really didn’t look so much worse for wear than it had the previous day.)

Thoughts of college and the study meeting suddenly far from his mind, Doyoung took a few hesitant steps towards a building that brought up the western walkway before leading into the embankment, if his previous theories were correct then so long as he didn’t draw attention to himself audibly then those things would be none the wiser to his presence and he should be relatively safe to make his way towards wherever his new destination was (because the library in the central distract suddenly didn’t seem so accessible or smart a choice).

That plan was very nearly blown out of the water when someone (or something) suddenly grabbed Doyoung’s bicep from behind, the boy barely quelling the natural urge to shout or exclaim his displeasure at the action and draw a multitude of unnecessary attention their way. When he wasn’t immediately mauled or otherwise incapacitated, Doyoung came to the conclusion that he was likely in no danger and though he was hesitant to initiate verbal contact or take his eyes off the perilous scene that lay sprawled ahead of him, that apparently wasn’t going to be necessary anyway because the other person took full charge of the situation, something that Doyoung would have resented at any other given time. (Okay, maybe a tiny part of him resented the loss of control even still.)

He was tugged backwards, his feet meeting open air instead of the collection of boarded up storefronts which had appeared to lay before him when he’d first entered the city and then a door was closed in his face by someone standing off to the side that he’d missed on his first sweep of the musty building.

“If you’re going to talk, do so quietly… you wouldn’t want to attract undue attention.” The voice of whomever had dragged him into this build without so much as asking intoned quietly from a few steps behind him. Doyoung turned slowly, allowing his gaze to pan over the dull colours of worn down bricks and wooden beams that looked minutes away from crumbling into dust even as he turned to finally meet the eyes of his captor saviour.  
The man was of average height, shorter than Doyoung himself with what could only be described as an average build and neatly styled hair that certainly didn’t tell of the disarray that lay just beyond the closed door of the warehouse.

“I’d figured as much, blind as a bat but with hearing just as fine-tuned… Doesn’t take a genius to figure out.” He replied, aiming to appear informed while letting just enough haughtiness slide into his tone to show that he wasn’t going to back down or be bossed around easily. Doyoung could very well take care of himself and he wanted to make sure this man (and his blonde haired side-kick who had yet to say a word) knew it.

However the attitude didn’t seem to deter the man, his lips curling into a small, genuine smile and holding his hand out for a formal introduction. “Figured it out faster than me, I screamed for almost a whole five minutes until I figured out that was how they were tracking me in the first place. I’m Kim Joonmyun, you?” He rambled good-naturedly, the smile never leaving his face as though there wasn’t some sort of apocalypse going on outside the door as they spoke.

“Kim Doyoung, college student. Would you mind telling what exactly is going on out there? I have a few theories but the best way to become informed about something is to find out someone else’s side of the story.”

It was a pretty broad question and although Doyoung had already made plenty of assumptions and his mind had drawn conclusions that he wasn’t sure he even wanted to believe, it would be reassuring to hear things from another point of view, one that wasn’t, maybe, quite as disbelieving as his own in the face of this particular adversary.

“Well, in short, they’re dead.” Joonmyun stated, as though just that would explain the horrors of the city. Doyoung’s expression must have been reflecting just how unimpressed he was by that particular explanation because the older man’s eyes sparkled with barely concealed mirth. The lighting was admittedly dim but it was easy to see that he was more relaxed than Doyoung would have ever imagined someone in their situation to be, it was as disconcerting as it was reassuring and the younger boy reminded himself to be on his guard regardless of how safe he seemed to be in that particular moment.

“And if I wanted the long version instead?” Doyoung inquired, allowing just a minute amount of sarcasm to leak into his voice to perpetuate his disdain with the previous answer. The girl, who’d yet to say a word, shifted uncomfortably in his periphery and he took note of the fact that he would technically be outnumbered if the two of them decided to turn on him inside the locked building from which he’d yet to identify any or all possibly exits.  
Joonmyun’s eyes hardened momentarily, the first sign of serious disposition Doyoung had seen since their impromptu meeting and the younger boy knew that he was finally going to get some answers to cross reference with his own conceptualisation of the situation.

“Well it starts much the same way,” Joonmyun reasoned, his tone still easy going despite the serious direction that their discussion had taken. “They are dead, except, not quite in the way we’ve traditionally been raised to believe. Those things—are little more than an empty shell of what used to be a human. They crave human flesh and will stop at nothing short of total destruction of the brain. It’s not like in the movies or the cheesy horror novels that say zombies want to bite you. No, these monsters want to tear every last bit of flesh from your bones because it’s what sustains them.”

The older man’s explanation was interrupted by a quiet snort from the blonde haired girl whose lips had pulled up into a slightly vicious looking smirk. “You have quite a way with words Joonmyun, I bet you’d publish a book on those damn things if there was actually anyone left out there to read it by the time you’d finished writing it.”

“You know Joohyun, people would think you’d be a little more grateful considering I pulled you out of a horde of those things when you were more interested in looting that purse that you’d had your eye on than getting yourself a safe distance away.” The two of them obviously had some history that Doyoung wasn’t privy to but he didn’t much care for the intricacies of their clearly floored acquaintance, much more interested in the shifting shadows behind the poorly boarded up windows that indicated a presence, most likely unwelcome, lingering a little too close for comfort.

Meanwhile, Joonmyun had backed up, moving away from the accusing finger that the much smaller girl was pointing at him. It would have been an amusing sight if Doyoung didn’t become more and more anxious as every step brought Joonmyun closer to the unknown entity that lingered outside the window.

He saw uncertainty flicker across Joohyun’s face as she too seemed to become aware that they weren’t entirely as alone as they’d once believed but her warning came a second too late, the muttered ‘step aside’ coming a beat after a hand had smashed through the brittle boards, regardless of the mottled lacerations that tore through its skin and latched onto Joonmyun’s raised arm with unrelenting strength. The broken wood gave way to a half-decomposed corpse, teeth tearing into Joonmyun’s neck before he even had a chance to scream. The older man let out a wet gurgling sound as blood poured from the crude, gaping wound but their interloper paid no mind to such happenings as it dropped to the ground next to his corpse and continued to tear flesh from bone with abandon that both shocked and horrified the two silent onlookers .

Joohyun let out a muted squeak of distress and Doyoung froze, horrified eyes turned on her as the monster finally took notice of their presence and abandoned its meal without a second thought to lunge towards them with unexpected speed and precision.

Doyoung watched, his emotions a mess of disgust and surprise as Joohyun, instead of screaming like he’d expected her to, grabbed the fire poker that rested against the wall behind her and shoved it through the creature’s eye socket without a moment of hesitation. He stayed frozen as she pulled it from the things head with a look of pure disgust on her face before tossing it to the side and taking precisely three steps back as the walker swayed slightly before collapsing back atop Joonmyun’s prone form.

It all happened in a matter of minutes and Doyoung struggled to make sense of the situation while his brain was stuck, unable to catch up with the unexpected and negative turn of events.

“You—what?” He managed to mutter, the words feeling like nails in his throat as he struggled to decide whether he should admire the speed and adeptness with which Joohyun had just handled the situation or he should be terrified that a cold blooded killer lay beneath the fake blonde hair and dramatically lined eyes.

“In this world,” she replied, turning to face Doyoung in a move that was either meant to reassure of intimidate him, “It’s either kill or be killed.”

“Deal with him,” she stated casually, motioning to the minutely twitching form of Joonmyun with a dispassionate expression on her face,

“Preferably before he gets back up and decides that you look to a tasty snack.”

It was at that exact moment that Doyoung learnt a valuable lesson that would get him through the next however many months/years… He wasn’t to trust anyone, least of all a girl who would willingly vacate the building, leaving him with a dead man and some sarcastically offered words of advice.

It wasn’t as though Doyoung had any experience with these creatures either, he’d seen the way the slight girl dealt with the previous one but his brain was unable to come up with the schematics of how exactly It worked. Did they die like regular people, did they have weak spots, places he could hit in which they would become more susceptible to damage? 

One thing was clear—they were unlike anything he’d ever seen before in his short life and his rational mind didn’t like that one bit. Being uninformed was one thing but being thrown into a pitch black room with only a laser pointer for illumination -something that would sooner get him found and killed than actually help him light the way to safe passage- this was unlikely to end well no matter how he played it really.

A groan signalled the end of his thinking time and Doyoung pivoted, reacting to the sound of stirring before his mind really told him it was something to be afraid of. Joonmyun was stumbling to his feet, looking no worse for wear if not for the still-gaping wound that hung fresh and gruesome at his jugular. From there it was no more a moral dilemma, this wasn’t Joonmyun and nobody would mourn a walking corpse so Doyoung felt no remorse in heaving the shovel he’d been eyeing from against the wall and bringing it against the gasping monster’s head with as much force as he could pack into his slightly shaky arms.

The attack knocked the monster of it’s feet and Doyoung purposely averted his eyes from the damage he’d done to it’s head out of both respect and a lack of willingness to admit his own lack of care about the situation. Mentally he made a note that both times an attack to the head had served its purpose and as such, maybe that should be his plan od attack for any later encounters.

In that moment the wind rattled the window pane revealed by the shattered boards and Doyoung realised that he couldn’t stay here, immobile for any longer. He may have lacked knowledge about his current situation but he didn’t lack basic survival instinct or common sense and both of those senses were blaring at him like a siren at that particular moment. He had to get out of here and he had to do it soon if he wanted to avoid a similar fate to his short-lived companion.

The musty room didn’t yield many possible exits save for the heavy wooden door that had served as his entrance and Doyoung surveyed the room with keen eyes, looking for an escape that could possibly get him to higher ground or at least not lead him back onto the street where he’d be no better off that he was within the confines of the warehouse. He’d probably have given up had he not spotted the enforced metal door at the back which was conveniently cracked to reveal a set of steel steps leading to an unknown location towards the back of the room. His first thought was that it maybe lead to a sort of safe or a safety deposit used for storing precious metals during the many jobs that would have previously taken place here but curiosity pulled him forward none the less and he was surprised to see that the door locked from the inside so he’d easily be able to lock himself in to promise himself some vestige of safe travels but still be able to let himself out if the opposite were to become a reality.

His footsteps echoed loudly in the tight space that was the staircase but Doyoung found that he didn’t mind so much. Making himself known that way could only mean that any lingering danger that could be above would know he was coming and as such, make itself known so right away so that he could make himself ready to fight (or run if his adversary was maybe something that he wasn’t yet equipped to handle.

The door at the top of thee staircase hung open but undamaged and Doyoung could automatically tell that he was alone as he stepped onto the rooftop that had clearly doubled as a garden at some point before it had been abandoned. Now, what had once been plants was just roots fried by the heaving beating of the July sun and hard baked soil contained within pens but likely no more fertile that land contaminated by unwelcome spoils of arsenic and other deadly chemicals . 

A short railing encompassed the space and Doyoung wondered if maybe it would have been a beautiful, magnificent place to visit when it was still in its prime but the thought blew away with the wind, not able to take hold in all its irrelevance.

It had become nothing particularly to look at and Doyoung found himself walking towards the rusted rails with measured steps. From there, he’d have a good vantage point, something that was always helpful in a situation where one was feeling lost or unable to find their way. He needed to figure out his next destination but he didn’t intent to think like everyone else; crowded or populated areas were out of the question but he still needed somewhere that he would have access to a stable flow of energy and suitable supplies should the situation move beyond his control before he had time to calculate his next move.

Movement in the town centre caught his eye and Doyoung watched as several people panicked and ran in different directions, clearly acting out fear with no time for reason and Doyoung could sympathise to an extent because who would have time for rational thought when the beginning of the end seemed to be upon them all at once (maybe that was just a little bit dramatic.) But watching them run gave him idea. Everybody seemed to head in the same direction, towards the more populated areas, places where they would perhaps find other people to band together with as though that ensure their own survival to any degree and while Doyoung knew the thinking behind the behaviour he mind laid out all the cons of acting as such in a neatly labelled diagram and he suddenly knew where he had to go.

There was a small downtown market, he’d only ever been there once with a classmate who’d insisted that the street vendors offered up in treat but it was run-down in general and not as wealthy as the high-quality attractions offered by the rest of Seoul and so most of the locals and visitors didn’t pay it much mind.

It had been a while ago but Doyoung remembered a small convenience store that he’d noticed as having a particularly good security setup and also being fairly well stocked for an area that was frequented rarely by other shoppers.  
That would be his destination, it was perfect. It was ignored enough that not a lot of people would run there and yet it offered a large portion of Doyoung thought he would need if he ended up needing to turn his tenure into an extended stay.

With a plan in mind, Doyoung felt much more in control which was just the way he liked. He would be okay.

//

Date: September 25th, 2016

Time: 20:00pm

Location: Pyeongchang-Dong, Seoul, South Korea

Jaehyun and Taeyong made their through the empty streets, neither really making an effort to initiate conversation for lack of things to talk about and the thick tension that seemed to permeate the air around them. The only thing that had seemed somewhat amiss was a car a few yards from reaching Jaehyun’s home, the front window smashed in and peeled away to reveal the little damage to the interior of the car.

On the rear window a message had been scrawled in block capitals but it looks as though someone had tried to wipe it away with messy blood-stained hands as it couldn’t be seen very clearly behind the red-ish brown smears that covered the window and large portions of the read door as well.

It looked as though the message had originally said something along the lines of ‘IT’S BLIND’ and then ‘IT’S TRUE WHAT THEY SAY, THE DEAD ARE WALKING’. Jaehyun probably would have laughed at the absurdity of it if he hadn’t experienced Krystal’s own death and reanimation just hours before but then and there hardly seemed like the appropriate time for a witty joke about the end of the world or some apocalyptic-end-of-the-world bullshit. Taeyong would probably hit him if he voiced any of those thoughts aloud so he kept them to himself, letting the silence be their only companion for the short walk.

Reaching the house that Jaehyun had called his home for as long as could remember was actually somewhat anticlimactic.

It was quieter than they expected, the sparse houses seemingly undamaged for the most part and the well-manicured lawns not looking as though they’d taken a lot of damage despite the carnage that could be seen elsewhere. The trek was easy, if not a little nerve-wracking but that was to be expected considering the day they’d had.

“You’re a rich kid, huh?” Taeyong hummed, brushing an errant leaf that’d managed to attach itself to his jacket and gesturing to the majestic buildings that lined the sidewalks on either side of them.

“You already knew that hyung, it’s not like I’m some enigma that showed up out of the blue a months ago and refused to reveal any of his background.” Jaehyun’s snort sounded a little too loud in the abandoned street and Taeyong found himself glancing around involuntary, checking to make sure the jovial sound hadn’t attracted any unsavoury attention.

“I guess—“ Taeyong muttered, folding the sleeve that had dipped below his hand, “I’ve never seen it though, it’s grander than I would’ve imagined.”

“It’s not like you live in a one bedroom apartment yourself hyung,” Jaehyun muttered, bored with the direction their conversation had taken. “I don’t really want to talk about the silver spoon with which my parents fed me mushy peas as a baby.”

Taeyong huffed, drawing Jaehyun’s attention away from the way his neighbours’ gate hung askew. “I don’t really live anywhere Jae, the place hasn’t been my home in a long time.” It was a loaded comment and Jaehyun didn’t really want to get into this same discussion with his best friend again. Taeyong had always been a little on the sombre and woe-me side and Jaehyun had just learned to live with it.

“Is your neighbours gate damaged? I thought you said his house was always pristine beyond belief?” Taeyong questioned, obviously not eager to stay on their previous topic and Jaehyun was only too happy to oblige. The shorter boy had a point though, The Kim’s house never looked anything short of something from lifestyle magazine so to see the wrought iron gate hanging on damaged hinges was a sight you didn’t see every day.

“Yeah, I was just thinking the same thing, I don’t think I’ve ever seen their yard look this untidy in all my years living in this neighbourhood. I don’t know them well but I guess the parents are bigshots or something since they never seem to be home and the son appears to have a never-ending flow of cash and freedom. The only person I usually see around here on a regular basis is the housekeeper and she’s nicer than the three of them put together—which is saying something because she’s a miserable old hag.” Jaehyun paused for breath; somewhere along the way, his sentence had turned into a rant as his thoughts played back the numerous times a younger Kim Doyoung had snarked him for no particular reason or tried to pin the blame for something that he himself had done on the younger boy.

Suffice to say that Kim Doyoung and Jung Jaehyun had never really considered themselves friends but Jaehyun still found a tiny part of his mind was concerned over the less than stellar state of his pseudo-enemies house.  
“Are you crushing on this kid Jae? You sure have a lot to say about him for someone you claim to dislike?” Taeyong’s voice containing a little of something that Jaehyun decidedly couldn’t place and didn’t really want to read too much into but he was somewhat busy being distracted by the absurdity of his friends statement to really care for the finer details of human psychology.

“Believe me when I say that me and Kim Dongyoung have the furthest thing from romantic interest in one another. In fact, I think it’d be safe to say that we shouldn’t really be left in one room together for any extended amount of time because only one or neither of us will make it out of that room alive.” Jaehyun was about to crack another joke when I hand on his elbow momentarily gave him pause. Turning his head to see why Taeyong had silenced him he saw the older boy’s eyebrows furrowed in first confusion and then consternation before he put one finger to his lips in a show of telling him to be quiet while raising his other hand, finger pointed towards the general direction of the Kim’s front yard.

Turning his head slowly while attempting to take head of Taeyong’s request for silence, Jaehyun spotted the reason for the pause and suddenly he remembered why they were here in the middle of the day instead of at dance practice like they would have been on any other given weekday.

Usually the sight of Mrs. Nam, the Kim’s housekeeper wouldn’t have been anything unusual. After all, her duties weren’t confined only to the house and Jaehyun would often see her working in the yard returned to or left his home but this wasn’t the same.

In fact, that instance was far from usual because usually Mrs. Nam wouldn’t have a wound on the back of her head that looked suspiciously similar to prongs of a garden rake and she wouldn’t have been slowly limping in their direction with such determination that one would have thought reaching the two boys was her only life goal.

Quietly, placing one foot behind the other, Taeyong shuffled backwards, grabbing Jaehyun’s wrist and silently urging him to do the same. His thoughts flashed back to the hastily scrawled message on the car window paired with their experience with Krystal in the dance studio that afternoon and realised that Taeyong was trying to move them out of harms way without making any noise so that the creature wouldn’t realise their new trajectory.

That probably would have worked in Jaehyun’s foot hadn’t caught on the hosepipe that he didn’t realise was still trailing across the ground beneath his feet, sending him stumbling forward with a curse, “Shit,” he exclaimed quietly but it was enough for the thing to realise that they’d moved in a different direction and make a dive towards them, something neither of the boys had been anticipating. 

“Guess sneaking is out of the question now!” Jaehyun shouted diving out of the way and thus separating himself from Taeyong while the monster followed the sound of his voice, leaving Taeyong to pause and watch the scene with horror etched into his features.

“Tae, grab something, anything you think I can hit this thing with. I think it’s hungry,” Jaehyun tried to joke while side stepping another swipe from angry Mrs. Nam and earning a sharp glare from Taeyong but none the less the older boy’s eyes darted around the yard before settling on something a few feet away. It only took Jaehyun a minute to realise that Taeyong has his sights set on Jaehyun’s brand new BMX, a present from his parents the before for good exam results but he wasn’t about to protest when he never rode the thing anyway and he’d much rather never ride it again than become chow for Mrs. Nam.

It was over in a minute. Taeyong hoisted the bike up by it’s lightweight frame and somehow found the strength to swing it at the snapper not once but twice. The first hit fell short hitting the thing in the abdomen but doing little except knocking it back a few paces before it charged at Jaehyun again. The second hit came a few moments later and the heavy handlebars made contact with dead thing’s skull with a sickening crunch, one appearing to become embedded in it’s skull before it fell to ground taking the bike with it, Taeyong’s arms failing him all at once.

“That,” Jaehyun commented after a beat of silence, “was fucking awesome.” 

Taeyong shot him yet another glare before turning towards the house. “Jeno’s bike isn’t here so I’m guessing he hasn’t made it back here after school. Let’s get inside before something else happens and makes today even crazier than it’s already been.”

Jaehyun agreed with nothing more than a short nod of the head, the older boy had a point after all. It was a wonder that Jaehyun hadn’t lost his keys in all the chaos that had been their day but it was a relief to slide them into the lock and be able to push the door closed behind them with a sense of finality.

Then Jaehyun did something he’d been wanting to do for several minutes since the display outside. He grabbed Taeyong’s shoulders and backed him up against the wall only letting the smirk overtake his lips when Taeyong let out a small indignant squeaked at being handled like an object. It was easy to see that the older boy was embarrassed by the way he averted his eyes and looked anywhere but at Jaehyun and that only made the taller boy more eager to go through with what he was about to do.

“You know,” he murmurmed, purposefully keeping his tone low and sultry. “That was pretty hot what you did out there.” He left his head dip low so that Taeyong could tell that the words were meant only for him.

“I’m going to kiss you now Taeyong,” he continued, not leaving room for argument but also mentally noting the way that Taeyong made no attempt at escaping his hold although the older boy still wouldn’t look him in the eye. That was all he needed and sliding his fingers under Taeyong’s chin to lift it slightly and force the older boy to look at him, Jaehyun finally lowered his mouth and slotted their lips together.

It wasn’t something he’d ever thought of doing before, just a fleeting thought after the show outside but Jaehyun didn’t think something have ever felt to right to him before in his whole life and by the way Taeyong melted in the kiss, lips moving with his and hands coming up to tangle in auburn hair, it was safe to say that Lee Taeyong felt much the same way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys, I'm gonna say this here because it's something that's been getting to both me an Pandi for a while.
> 
> we put a lot of effort into these chapters and we receive very little feedback and that makes it very hard to want to write new chapters. So please, if you're reading the fic them drop us a comment to let us know what you liked/didn't like and what you thought of the characters! even just say hi, we really appreciate it!
> 
> With that said, I really hope you all enjoy this chapter (it only took me over a year to write and rewrite)


	3. Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuta just wanted to go through his day like every other and Wendy demonstrates how to properly use a traffic cone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The three chapters are out before the end of the month like I promised! HansoledMS finally got round to finishing her chaper today and so we posted both the chapters.  
> This is a double update so if you haven't go and read chapter 2 first! :)

**Date: 25th September 2016**

  
**Time: 18:15pm**

  
**Location: Osaka, Japan**

**-:-:-:-:-**

 

Yuta had expected to start his day uneventfully, he had heard about an unknown virus spreading around different areas of Japan and other places in the world but held little fear for it. The last he had heard the virus had reached Osaka, the reason why his parents had chosen to move to the capital and stay with friends until the threat dies down, but he was never one to catch illness easily due to his healthy nature.

Despite the obvious threat the city was booming as it usually was and Yuta had decided to pick up a few souvenirs before his flight in the afternoon. Of course it didn’t take long for him to realise just how wrong he had been in his previous thoughts, seeing the virus at work first hand was not something he would have ever wished upon even an archenemy, if he had one.

The streets were chaotic, masses of civilians rushing, screaming and shoving each other to escape the danger that threatened them. Survival instinct kicked-in as it became every man or women for themselves. The law of the jungle: The survival of the fittest.

He had never understood how people could exaggerate how much could change from one second to a next but one second he was smiling at a young child skipping down the road and the next he watched silently in shock at the hell that appeared in front of him, his eyes wide as he stood stock-still in the middle of the frenzied street. Before he could even blink he was forced to watch as a young women barely older than himself, was tackled to the ground, her screams of pain barely heard over the overwhelming noise around him, it mixed in with the countless other horrifying noises that plagued the air.

He stood silently watching the chaos unfold for minutes on end, unable to bring himself to move. He watched, horrified, as the blooded women who he has seen get ripped apart minutes before, started moving around where she was laying on the dirtied city floor. Her body jerked as she slowly stood up, Yuta froze not daring to even breathe as her milky eyes seemed to stare straight through him. He willed his body to move but with no result. This had inadvertently saved him as the women turned her head and lunged towards the crying figure of a teenage boy, Yuta could only watch in horror as she tore into the tender skin of the young boy.

He unconsciously released a panicked sound, the noise alerting the creature of formerly an old man, to his presence. If not for all the blood which he couldn’t place the origin of, or the clearly out of place ankle, then it would have still looked human. It wore worn, dark washed-out jeans and a green checked shirt. Yuta looked at it in horror as he thought of his own father and mother who he had left to travel alone, not even waking up to say goodbye to them that morning.

The creature stared at him, it soulless milky eyes looking right through him as it continued to walk in his direction. It dragged a bloodied, broken foot across the floor as it hobbled toward him, red stained teeth flashing as the creature groaned loudly, the noise sounded painful as if the man hadn't had water in days and could no longer talk. Yuta winced, his mind filled with panicked thoughts as he stared into the dead eyes of the creature.

As the thing angrily advanced towards him he broke into a sprint in an attempt to get away from it, which he did so with ease, but the creature followed hearing his loud, careless footsteps. His mind was racing as he tried to figure out what was happening around him. The only thought that came to mind was getting back to Korea, he had to leave and go back to Hansol. The older man would be terrified when he found out the situation he was in. Once he had reached an alleyway, he quickly turned into it, hiding himself behind the dumpster. After a few minutes of hearing nothing he pulled out his phone with shaking hands. His phone lit up, multiple calls missed from his parents, Hansol and Taeil were displayed on the screen.

He called his parents, knees shaking more with every ring of the phone. After what he was sure was the longest ten seconds of his life he heard the call connect but didn't get the chance to say anything before his mum was talking over him.

"Yuta! Are you okay? We heard what was happening and when you didn’t pick up your father and I started dreading the worst?"

If he was in any other situation he was sure he would have pulled the phone away from his ear because of the volume his mum was speaking at but at that moment all he could do was clutch the phone tighter.

"I-I’m okay but the town is crazy, everyone is attacking each other ma, they were meant to be dead”.

“Yuta? What are talking about? Dead?” His mother asked, her voice alarmed as she tried to process what her son was saying.

I-I saw them get their necks ripped out but they got back up again and then they did the same thing to other people, it was like some sort of horror movie but worse" the more he spoke the more frantic he became, the situation hitting him hard as he tried to keep his panic at bay but still felt his breathing pick up and the tears prick at his eyes.

"Shhh, sweetie I know you'll be okay. You need to leave, go back to Korea and stay safe with Hansol. I’ve heard what’s going on and whatever you do, do not confuse them as human, they aren't alive but you are so you need to defend yourself no matter what. Your father thinks they might be blind based off some of the reports but I'm not so sure so still be careful, stay as quiet and out of sight as you can".

Yuta found himself nodding along to the information, his mind processing the information and matching with the image of the man only turning towards him when he had made a sound. He stored the information in his mind for later.

"Ma, I think dad is right. The reactions I saw today were similar but I'm not sure".

"I don't care what they are honestly, just make sure you stay safe. We're going to an army protection camp here in the capital but we want you to get out of the country. It's not safe and they'll be releasing two more flights so you'll have to hurry. We love you, don't you forget that my precious boy". Her voice was heavy, as she spoke, Yuta felt more tears prick at his eyes but quickly wiped them away.

"I love you too, stay safe. I'll call again, I promise".

Once the call had ended he stayed seated for a few seconds to prepare himself before he stood and made his way out of the alley. He peeked around but saw nothing around so he quickly darted out. He had grown up around here, so he quickly thought through the back roads that he could take to get to the airport.

Once he was on route he pulled out his phone, briefly checking the battery before he pressed one on his speed-dial.

"Hello? Yuta is that you? Are you okay?"

"One question at a time". He said, he was slightly out of breath as he kept his speed up. "I'm fine, kind of? There is something really bad happening and I don't know what to do and there is only one more flight leaving for Korea so I have to hurry" by the end he was out of breath, he felt emotions start to build up in his chest again as he struggled to retain his feelings. "I don't want to be stuck here".

"Hey, you're okay. Follow my breathing and calm down". The familiar voice of Hansol told him, he followed the instructions and felt himself relax slightly.

"Okay, I know what's going on, well I know roughly what's going on. This sickness apparently spread from America and has already infected Japan, England, Russia and China, among other places. For now Korea is safe but you need to be fast, that plane leaves in...twenty minutes. Can you make it?" the older man asked worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm about ten minutes away from the Airport, I'll make it. Tell Taeil I'm fine, he called me before and I don't want him to worry".

"I will. Stay safe, we should hang up, you need to save your battery".

"Okay, I love you"

"I love you more"

"Not Poss-" The phone hung up before he could even finish. He rolled his eyes and brought himself into a slow jog. After five minutes he started to see the big structure of Haneda airport, but slowed upon seeing the amount of people there. He walked slowly forward, keeping his steps quiet as he remembered the advice his mother had given him. When he arrived he quickly noticed that they were all human so he guessed the infection had been controlled some place close to the airport or it had not reached that far yet.

He quickly made his way inside, pushing past people as he tried to make his way to the right terminal. He stopped when he heard the short scream of a girl, he turned and scanned the area, catching sight of an elder man kicking a young girl. Anger boiled in his chest as he quickly forgot his original intentions and walked up to man pushing him away roughly.

"What's wrong with you?" He glared at the offender. He glared as the elder man simply dusted off his coat nonchalantly. "That's none of your business pretty boy but since you're so eager, I'll tell you. I was just getting rid of a burden, her parents are already dead and she won't survive". Yuta looked at the man in disgust, quickly placing himself in-between the man and the young girl, who had pulled herself into a sitting position. "I think you should move along" he moved forward slightly, the older man sneered but turned and left, intimidated by the threat the younger man posed. Yuta crouched down and helped the girl stand with a gently smile.

"Are you okay?" She nodded hesitantly.

"I'm Yuta, I'm twenty. Where are you headed?"

"I'm Hina, I'm 15. My parents and I had booked tickets for Korea but they- they" she sniffled, her eyed tearing up slightly. Instead of panicking, Yuta smiled kindly as he wiped the tears from her eyes. "You can travel with me, I'm going to Korea too. When we get there you can stay with me if you have nowhere else. I live with my boyfriend, he's really nice". Hina smiled at him nodding her head. "I have a few friends there but I'm not sure where they live".

"That's okay, we'll help you find them".

"Thank you"

"Don't mention it" he grabbed her hand but spun around as they heard screams behind them, Yuta saw as people started struggling with each other, he quickly figured out that they had reached their time limit so he turned them both back towards the terminal and pulled Hina along at a jogging pace. "You need to stay quiet, I know this is scary but they can't see us...I think, but they have better hearing to compensate or something like that".

They made it to the terminal as quickly as they could, no workers were at the gate as they had already fled in fear of their own safety rather than their jobs, something that anyone would do in the given situation. They heard as another boarding call came through the speaker and quickly passed through. Once they were close enough to the boarding bridge they saw a few people by the door of the plane, they were all shouting and waving their hands frantically towards them. Yuta tightened his grip on Hina's hand before taking off in a sprint. He held tightly not wanting to chance their grip loosening and them getting separated, the young female struggled to keep up but managed to not trip as she was dragged along. Once they were close enough, a guy with a bat came out and passed them, keeping guard to make sure nothing else would get through.

Yuta managed a sigh of relief as he finally made it onto the plane, a young women stood in front of him and he composed himself slightly so he could pay attention to what she was saying. "Neither of you were bitten, right?" Her face was deadly serious as she inspected the two. Hina shook her head in non-verbal validation as Yuta spoke up to answer. "No. No, neither of us were bitten" the girl nodded her head, a pretty smile blooming on her face, something the young university student wouldn't have expected to see moments before considering the situation. "What about the biters? Did you see any?" Yuta nodded, running a hand through his hair in agitation.

"Yeah, they seemed to have made in into the main lobby area". Tiffany nodded. "Great" her tone dripped sarcasm before she quickly flashed them a friendly smile. "Sorry I don't deal with unexpected situations that well" the two shook their heads in understanding.

"Anyway, I'm Tiffany. I'll help you guys out in a second just let me sort him out" she motioned to the male with the bat. "Hey, Donghae! The male turned around at the call of his name and Tiffany quickly waved him over to which he obliged and quickly walked towards them.

"I think we should close the door now. The biters have made their way into the airport, it's safer if we go now before anyone infected can make it to the plane. Donghae nodded and moved back towards the door. Tiffany turned back towards them. "There should be plenty of space, not a lot of people want to leave the county I guess. Most think it'll be safer to wait for military help". Her tone was light and genuine with understanding. Yuta nodded, thinking back to his parents. "Let's get you guys settled".

"Are you an air hostess?" Hina asked curiously, Tiffany laughed but shook her head. "Nope, Donghae and I are just kind souls who want to help I guess. A friend of mine was infected and killed so I guess I just want to help as many people as possible" she replied lightly, her voice sad and smile no longer as big but still there.

"You guys can sit here, feel free to move of course but try to stay seated until the captain says so". Yuta nodded and thanked her before she walked off. "Are you okay?" Hina nodded as she strapped on her seat belt as the pilot had asked moments before through the intercom.

"It all feels like a dream, like I'll wake up and my parents will be there smiling at me and making breakfast like always" she said sadly as she looking down at her lap. Yuta rubbed her back awkwardly, he wasn't sure what he could say as at this point nothing could change what had happened or make her feel better, so he stayed quiet and tried to comfort her.

It didn't take long for Hina to fall asleep, her head rested on the window. Yuta made sure the girl wouldn't wake up before he got up from his seat. The airplane was already in the air so he didn’t feel threatened by any possible creatures. Down the aisle he found Tiffany and Donghae sitting together, he greeted them quickly as he passed them to go to the toilet.

'There's only half an hour left, Korea not far and it should be safe' he thought to himself, quickly finishing his business and looked in the mirror as he washed his hands. He looked tired and ruffled but there was no blood. 'Well at least I won't look like a complete mess when I get there'. He played around with his hair, flattening it and looking at it in disapproval when he noticed how long he had let it become.

'I was in an apocalypse for a few hours and I already fit right in' he thought sarcastically, sighing as he unlocked the door and went back towards his seat. Once he was sat back down he took off his jacket, placing it over Hina's small form before relaxing into his own seat and closing his heavy eyes.

It seemed as if only minutes had passed when he felt himself being shaken awake, he opened his eyes to see Donghae and Tiffany smiling down at him. "We're here, you should wake her and leave". He nodded and woke Hina, who blinked tiredly but easily moved out of her seat and down the aisle.

'Don't worry Hansol, I'll be there soon'. Yuta thought as he slowly made his exit from the plane.

 

  
**-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-**

**Date: 25th September 2016**

**Time: 15:30pm**

**Location: Airplane, Seoul, South Korea**

**-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-**

 

Johnny heard the captain speaking as he was roused out of sleep

"We'll be arriving in the next hour. We ask you all not to panic as he have heard that they are currently trying to secure the area and rid of the infected which is believed to have made it there on a journey from Europe. We ask for your cooperation and patience, thank you".

The announcement shut off and Johnny lay still for several more seconds, mind trying to process what he had just heard. His thoughts filled with worry but he quickly cleared them away, the captain sounded confident that the infection would be contained by the time they reached their destination.

Johnny stretched, wiping the crusts of sleep from his eyes. The airplane was dark as most were still sleeping, the blinds pulled down over the windows. He turned slightly in his chair to look at Mark sleeping peacefully in the chair beside him, his pink hair ruffled. Johnny ran his fingers through the pink strands, a frown slowly presenting itself when he saw splotches of blood on the boy's neck. He grabbed his back pack and pulled out one of his headbands and a water bottle.

He used the cloth to gently pat at the blood, his hand freezing mid-air when he felt Mark move. After a few seconds he decided to try again as the boy had stopped moving again. After a minute the boy's neck was clear of blood so Johnny pulled away, smiling to himself. He decided to go and wash-up in the toilet, he didn't want there to be any blood on him when he woke up. As he walked he noticed as a man, older than himself, stood looking down at another passenger, he frowned but quickly shrugged it off as he left to clean up.

Mark blinked his eyes open, he felt a slight headache arising with him but ignored it as he looked around. He looked around at his surroundings, confused as to where he was but quickly remembered the events that had occurred only hours ago. He sighed but became alert when he couldn't see Johnny, he looked around frantically for the only familiar face but was met by nothing. The airplane was still dark but he ignored it, listening to the silence that surrounded him. After a few seconds he heard the sounds of strained breathing and something wet. Standing cautiously, the younger boy looked around, he left his seat when he saw an elder man kneeling awkwardly on the floor, his upper body hunched over the seat of someone else.

"Excuse me, are you okay?" he asked quietly in English to avoid waking up the other passengers, when he didn't receive a reply he walked closer, this time asking in Korean. The man stopped moving, his face turning towards the teenager. Mark felt his throat constrict at the milky white eyes that stared back at him, the 'man' released a growl-like sound as it stood to its full height. Mark walked back slowly, not daring to take his eyes off the creature. He knew he had to lead it away, if he tried to wake someone there was a good chance they would react loudly which could get them killed.

The pink haired boy had reached the last couple of seats in that section of the plane when he fell backwards, a pained sound making its way out of his mouth. The sound of the fall woke another one of the passengers, who looked around groggily, they started to speak not knowing the situation but was stopped as the creature lunged for them, taking a bite out of their wrinkled cheek. Pained screams filled the plane as the creature pulled back, chunk of flesh placed securely in-between bloodied teeth.

The noise awoke the rest of the passengers who started panicking. Mark scrambled to get up, hoping to find a place to hide but was pulled back down as a hand yanked on his shoulder, he turned, eyes wide in shock as he heard the tell-tale song of the dead. He screamed and tried to thrash out of its grip but to no avail. The creature struggled to pull itself towards him and he unconsciously called out desperately, he heard someone call his name.

"Mark?" Johnny called unsure, his eyes horrified by the sight of several zombified creatures snacking on his fellow passengers. He wanted to help everyone but he couldn't when his charge was nowhere in sight. He heard desperate calls of his name and quickly made his ways towards the sound, kicking a creature who had also heard it. His heart almost stopped when he saw the younger male on the floor, struggling for his life but the teeth that could end it were only centimetres away from his neck. He ran kicking the creature in the head then its arm when the creature did not budge. After a few well-aimed kicks he had the creature off the younger and was pulling him off the floor and safely behind him. Once he was sure Mark was safely away from danger, he turned his attention back to the biter and pushed down its chest using his left foot and destroying its skull by stomping down harshly a few times once it was on the rough carpet, he was sure that after the fourth stomp it was long deceased but couldn’t bring himself to stop.

  
He heard a satisfying crack as the skull broke once again and gave one last crushing stomp before moving away. The creature didn't move and Johnny couldn't hold back a gag at the sight before him. The creatures head was a mess of blood, fragments of skull and the brain. His eyes watered and he turned away as he saw an eye out of the socket. He pulled Mark close to him, the terrified boy didn't protest as he stared into the shirt of the elder, listening to the noise around him as people tried to fight from the very creatures they had been running from.

  
"We will be landing shortly, please stay seated and place your seatbelts on"

Mark flinched at the sudden voice of the captain and looked around helplessly. He felt as Johnny bent down, his breath on his ear. "Let's go down a section towards the door, we can warn the people and hide in the closest bathroom until we land. The older boy felt as Mark nodded hesitantly. He slowly moved them backwards, closing the door quietly as to not attract the attention of the killers. As they walked in they saw a man frowning with obvious confusion. Johnny quickly brought a finger to his lips to signal the man to stay quiet, he did but was quick to wave them over.

"What's happening?" The man appeared calm and collected but was given away by the urgency in his whispered voice. "Someone must have been bit, by the time we woke up there were already two or three biters in there". The man looked them over, frowning at the blood over them. "We weren't bit, don't worry but we need to alert everyone as quickly and quietly as possible. As you know we'll be landing-" they heard another scream from the room ahead but ignored it, speaking faster. "-soon, so if we wake everyone up and get them to the exit then we can exit as soon as this thing lands".

  
The older man contemplated the words for a few seconds but then nodded. "I'm Leeteuk. Thanks for the warning, I'll wake everyone on this row-" he signalled to the left side. "The boy can wake everyone in the middle and you can take the right". Johnny nodded and gently guided Mark to the middle, pointing slightly before moving to the right.

  
Mark walked forward, glancing at Johnny who was already waking people, explaining the situation to them as quietly as he could. Mark followed example and shook the woman in front of him, she opened her eyes and looked at him in confusion as he signalled for her to stay quiet as he leaned over and woke the man next to her. He did the same thing again, only this time asking the male to wake the young woman next to him. Once they were all awake he explained the situation, gesturing Johnny and Leeteuk as proof. They looked horrified but quickly agreed to help them wake the other passengers.

  
"Kid, I'm Jimin and this is Chilhyun. Come and find us if you need any help, okay?" He agreed to the kind woman before walking a few seats down to the next person who had not been woken up yet. The girl had artistic blue dip-dyed hair, which was tried into a loose ponytail. Mark shook her and her eyes flew open, he once again told her to stay quiet and told her what had happened she nodded and stayed with him as they reached the end of the section where all the passengers were standing nervously. The plane shook as they reached the ground and Mark caught the girl as she almost flew forward. Relief should have been felt but everyone stopped dead in their tracks as a figure fell through the now open door, it groaned but moved forward.

  
Chaos.

Everyone became frantic at the sight of the creature, no one knew that it didn’t target based on sight so they all tried to flee the scene. Mark felt as the ground was once again pulled from underneath his feet as another passenger pushed him to the ground. He didn't have time to complain as the girl he had helped only moments before had pulled him back up and held him to keep his feet steady. She continued with the tight grip on his arm as she pulled him through the open door. Being the last ones out she pulled the handle harshly to shut the door, it did but neither noticed that it had not closed properly due to a bag that had been jammed between.

  
They walked carefully down the steps and onto the landing strip. The young Pink haired boy heard as the girl released a deep sigh in relief. He turned slightly to see her holding a hand to her chest, before she turned to meet his eyes, a relieved smile on her face. Mark blinked in surprise but didn't smile in return. Unfazed, the girl grabbed his hand and shook it in greeting.

  
"Hey! This might not be the best greeting but I'm Son Seungwan, please call me Wendy I'd much prefer it. I'm 22 and I'm pretty sure you're younger than me, you can call me noona". She finished with a wink. The introduction was cheery and informal but it made a small smile appear on the young boys face.

  
"I'm Lee Minhyung, but call me Mark. You guessed right, Noona, I'm 17". Wendy smiled and ruffled his hair. "I like your hair, it's very pink". Mark blushed at the mention of his embarrassing hair colour, he had dyed as part of a dare only days before and hadn't had time to change it back for obvious reasons. "Thanks Noona but yours is cooler" she did a hair flip and they both laughed as they made their way toward the entrance of the building. Mark had completely forgotten about Johnny who was nowhere in sight but stayed distracted by the charming female.

  
"Don't laugh but I dyed it this way because of a member of a dance group I love on YouTube, her hair was dip-dyed green and I thought it was cool so I tried it myself using a different colour to make the style my own".

"Who? I feel like I know who you're talking about". He asked, searching his brain to fit the familiar information.

"SM, or Special Movements?" She said, this time in English as the name was usually said in English. "Oh, I know. I watch them sometimes, I prefer their self-choreographed pieces more than their covers I think it shows their talent more". Wendy nodded in agreement as they passed through the door, both stopping as they heard the noise coming from the main lobby, they approached hesitantly and saw the rest of the passengers ahead. Johnny stood out as he looked through the passengers, a desperate look on his face, Mark frowned and called out to him. The older man's head snapped towards them, the panic quickly fading into relief as he saw them and made his way over to them.

"Thank God you're safe. I couldn't find you, one minute more and I was ready to barge back onto that infested airplane". Although the words sounded genuine with worry, Mark rolled his eyes, not believing the older boy's words in the slightest.

"What's going on?" Wendy asked, pointing to the survivors who were all bunched up together by the exit of their terminal. Johnny paused looking over Mark, who appeared quite put-out and annoyed by the elders fussing, to see the female.

"We think they didn't quite clear out the airport like they promised. On board the Captain said something about the airport being infected because of a plane from Europe but thought they would be able to contain the virus. By the sounds of whatever is happening out there, they didn't quite clear up". He tried to be humorous but didn't have it in him, there situation appeared quite bleak. Wendy scoffed and moved towards the doors, she pushed to the front and stood in front of everyone.

"If the airport really had been infested then we have to get out of here, there is no way I am going to become a sitting duck just waiting for the predator to sink its teeth into me". Murmurs of agreement were heard. "Stay in small groups and move as fast as possible, if you're fast they shouldn't be able to get you" Johnny spoke up, some people turning their heads towards him. "Try and avoid conflict unless absolutely necessary".

  
Wendy walked back over to them and linked arms with them both. "I guess I'm joining you guys then. We can form a small group" The two males agreed and she unlinked her arms and looked around, moving towards the rope barriers. She easily lifted one from the rope and took it, ignoring as one-by-one the small groups began to leave. She lifted the pole into the air and jiggled it at them. Mark shook his head at her but couldn't help but be slightly amused by the elder female's behaviour. "You guys should take one as well, just in case..." She trailed off, the unsaid implications lingering in the air. Johnny nodded and grabbed one for himself, Mark went to grab one but was stopped by Johnny who grabbed his arm.

"Don't, I can protect you, I don't want you to have to...use this thing" Johnny said, almost pleadingly but was ignored as the younger boy glared and tore his arm out of the older boys grip. "I can look out for myself, I can't depend on you when my parents couldn't". Johnny flinched at the harsh words but tried to argue, stopped by Wendy who pat his shoulder and shook her head. “It’s better if he has a way of protecting himself, just in case the situation calls for it”. Johnny sighed but nodded, agreeing with her reasoning.

  
The trio walked through the doors, each trying to hold their shock at the sight of the biters which seemed to be just about everywhere. They could hear the pained cries of the living who had been caught but didn't look for the sources, too scared of what they would see. They moved cautiously forward at a fast pace, Johnny or Wendy occasionally swiping their 'weapon' at a biter that was too close. Mark clutched the short pole in his hands tightly, he looked around cautiously, taking note of the biters behaviours. The first thing he noticed was that they didn't move towards any one person unless they heard a noise or were close enough, ignoring his group members he slowly bent down, picking up a phone that had been dropped by a traveller, no-doubt during their escape.

  
He tested the weight of the phone briefly as he stood, he could see Johnny and Wendy ahead but made no move to leave. As soon as he was standing properly he tested the lock, relieved but confused as the phone had no password securing it. Checking through it quickly, he found the music app and pressed on the first song he saw.

  
Music blared from the speaker, Mark watched as walkers turned and moved towards him so he threw the loud object in an under arm throw towards the seating area. He watched as the biters in the immediate area turned towards it and moved in the direction they heard the noise coming from. He nodded just as he felt a pull on his arm, he swung the pole around but it was caught by Johnny who continued to pull him to the exit where Wendy was waiting behind a wall, her blue hair making it easier to spot her from a distance.

  
"What were you thinking? I turned around and you were gone!" Johnny whisper-yelled, his eyes conveyed hurt as he looked at the younger boy who simply glared down at the floor. "You should be quiet, those things have better hearing than any of us do". Mark looked up but not towards his 'friend', he saw Wendy looking at him curiously so he elaborated. "I stayed behind to test a theory and I was right. I stood right in the middle and not one of them noticed me, the film over their eyes makes them blind. They use their hearing and possibly their sense of smell to hunt". Wendy looked awed and put her hands up in a silent clap. "Good work shorty, I'm not sure if I'm willing to test that theory but I'll keep it in mind". Mark rolled his eyes, not commenting on the fact that he was actually a head taller than her.

  
"Is he always this grumpy?" she asked Johnny curiously, the older boy shook his head sadly. "No, he's usually quite cheerful but given the situation I suppose I don't blame him". Wendy nodded in agreement. "We should probably leave, given the situation in here it might be safer outside, although I doubt it, we can at least find somewhere to hide". They agreed and walked out the building, the automatic doors sliding open at their approach.

  
Within seconds every creature outside the door was looking towards them before stumbling forward. Mark felt paralyzed as he looked at the creatures, there weren’t many of them, only five or six, but he wasn’t sure if he would actually be able to hit one of them. Wendy sped ahead, hitting one of the biters in the stomach, it recoiled backwards but quickly recovered and sprung back up, now tempted by the potential food that was only metres away. "I guess the head it is" she swung hard, flinching as the metal made contact with the head of the creature, which dropped to the ground not moving. “So the movies were right about something I guess”.

Johnny found himself raising an eyebrow at the slightly older female, she shrugged and grimaced at the mess. "What? I’m just saying that some of those ‘zombie’ movies do teach you something, even the pointlessly gory ones". She surged forward and grabbed Mark's arm, pulling him away from a biter which had steadily approached him from behind. Johnny was right behind her, he swung the pole at the creature as soon as Mark was out of the way. He heard a satisfying crunch as the pole connected with the side of its head, blood coming out of the dent that had been made but the creature continued to move. Johnny looked down at it, horrified by its resilience but swung the pole down on it once again as it crawled towards him.

  
Happy knowing that the creature would not be getting back up he tightened his grip on the pole, he attempted to shake some of the blood from it but quickly gave up seeing it was only going to be dirtied again. As he turned he saw the pole Wendy had been using went flying from her hands as a biter lashed out. He made a move to help her but watched, impressed as the girl didn't even blink before she had a traffic cone in hand and bludgeoned the creature with it fiercely.

"Johnny, let's go!" She called, her hand once again around Mark's wrist as the boy looked completely out of it. Johnny obliged and ran towards them as they also took off into a sprint slightly ahead of him.

After a few minutes the group slowed down into a stop on a deserted back-road. "Do we have any idea of a place to stay, I had a hotel room booked but there is no way that will be safe".

"We're going to stay with my friend, he lives in a small apartment but I'm sure he would welcome you". Johnny replied as he fiddled with his phone, Mark sitting on the ground between their feet. "His not answering his phone but I called him before we went to the airport originally, he knows we're coming".

"Great! Let's make our way to safety”.


	4. Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Doyoung has the time of his life luting and meets a new 'friend', Mark makes a stupid mistake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry if this chapter seems repetitive or if there are mistakes, I tried my best T-T  
> For those who may be worried able the Red Velvet's girls showing up a lot, I promise it is only for this beginning part, they go off and will continue to make appearances throughout the fic but not too often. :)

**Date: 25th September 2016**

**Time: 16:24pm**

**Location: Gangnam, Seoul, South Korea**

**-:-:-:-:-**

Doyoung walked briskly down the quiet streets, he heard screams a few minutes before and was not willing to chance an encounter with any unsavoury beings dead or alive. He knew he had to get out of Gangnam, the area was far too overcrowded, meaning to slightly enhance his chances of survival - which were slim at best, he would have to move to a less populated area, even if that meant he had to surround himself with the savages who didn't even have their own bidet.

It didn't take long to get to the nearest bus stop, he was glad he had picked up his travel card that morning, planning on skipping one of his classes in another useless attempt to rebel against the overly strict and heartless humans he had the 'honour' of calling parents.

He looked down at the wooden bench of the shelter in disgust, opting instead to keep his dignity and stand like any normal person should when waiting for the travelling germ of a bus, instead of sitting down on a bench that had at least ten people throw up on it in the past and probably never had the proper decontamination it needed to stay clean. After a whole minute of waiting and no signs of the bus, Doyoung felt irritation bubble up inside him at the atrocious service of poor people's travel, he honestly could not understand how they could make people wait so long outside like this.

By the second minute past he was tapping his foot impatiently, his thoughts finally drifting back to the urgent nature of his getaway rather than the unsanitary condition of the area surrounding him. He thought through what he had learned during the exciting hours before, in order to continue to heighten the percentage of his survival he would have to think smart, which -not that he liked to brag- came to him easier than trying not to think smartly.

It took a total of three minutes for the bus to arrive and to say that Doyoung was not impressed would have been an understatement. The brunette huffed as he stepped onto the bus and scanned his card, the beep assuring him that Rowoon had put money on the card for him like he had asked, a small favour for a friend considering Doyoung himself had no idea how to do it. A brief glance at the bus driver told Doyoung that this was going to be the last ride, probably as the man lived on closer to the end of the line and wanted to get back there to his family.

Of course, like everything else this day the bus had a problem, it was almost completely packed, only one or two seats available meaning he would have to sit next to someone, something he had hoped to avoid at all costs. He debated his choices quickly as he felt the bus jolt into movement, he sat down next to the pleasant old lady rather than the young with the crying toddler on her lap, her face nothing but sorry as she tried to control the tantrum. As he sat he didn't bother responding to the polite smile the elderly lady sent his way, instead facing forward and monitoring that stations. He sighed as he thought about the route and how long it would take to arrive, this was going to be a long journey.

If there was one thing Doyoung got to think long and hard about, it was what he should call the infected. He refused to call them 'zombies', what sort of cult-classic nerd would actual call them as such, it was lame and no longer original. There were a few other choices like 'walkers' which became popularised by that one American show that everyone was hooked on but once again he was put-off by its use on television, biters seemed like a good, clean option but it just didn't have the 'Doyoung-feel'. In the end he decided on 'norms' because they reminded him of normal people, he guessed he would have to refer to actual humans as intellects but was sure that didn't matter much as he was on a genius level of his own.

Throughout the drive he noticed as the driver began to stop accepting more and more passengers the further they went, he supposed it made sense, not wanting to risk danger of accepting an injured person, he was thankful he didn't want to risk his life for others so he commended the driver's tactical thinking. Once he was in the area he planned he asked to get off the bus at an empty stop, the driver looked reluctant but let the bus drift to a stop and told him to say safe, at the genuine words Doyoung let a small smile fall onto his face and thanked the older man who nodded and quickly departed once he was off.

"Now, if I remember correctly there should be a few useful stores around here, well half useful this area is...lacking" he muttered to himself as he looked around, turning his nose up at the 'common' location. He frowned as he noticed the lack of any sort of life around, there was a mess as people seemed to have just dropped what they were doing and abandoned the place in favour of hiding, which he found no logic in, then again most people just listened to the Government every word so most probably ran home to lock themselves inside until the Government and army could 'control' the infection.

He shook his head at the narrow minded way of thinking and walked into the first shop which had not been closed up by the owners, it was a small café with only five tables around to seat four at a time. Doyoung walked right through to the kitchen area and searched around for anything that could be used as a weapon, of course it wasn't long before he had a sharp knife in hand, he nodded and tucked it into the side of his bag before picking up another and testing it against the side, when he was satisfied it was good enough not to break when using it to cut through bone he clutched it tightly and ventured back out onto the street.

As he exited through the clouded door - if it were in any other situation he would have been filing a hygiene complaint faster than they could ask for his order- he saw a figure not far down the street, he stayed silent and watched it's body language as it walked and quickly took notice to the unnatural limp and drunken sway in the movements, he decided not risk interaction and quickly passed into the next shop.

The store held only a small selection of clothing, none of which was appealing to Doyoung, he was half inclined to march right back out of the store because of how cheap the pricing was but quickly changed his mind and walked over to the back of the store, he picked up a few packs of underwear and socks which he dreaded putting on but hygiene was more important than his privilege for once, he stuffed the offending items into his bag but stopped short upon seeing a heavy duty backpack, which he supposed was meant to be used for hiking or something. He picked up the black and white coloured bag and transferred the items before discarding his designer bag onto the floor.

Deciding that maybe the shop was more useful than originally thought he had a more thorough look around, this time coming back with a simple black winter coat, two beanies, a pair of gloves and a matching scarf. The items were all far too under-priced for his taste and he was sure that he would find several problems with the choice of material when he put them on but he decided to ignore it, thinking of how they would certainly aid in his goal for survival. Looking down at his haul he nodded his head, proud of his finds before stuffing everything but the coat into the bag and then pulling the coat on in order to save space. Gripping the knife securely in his hand he once again left the shop, carefully checking his surroundings as he exited, after he did a good survey of the area and was sure there was no threat, he walked across the road to an outdoors supply shop, the shop was a lot bigger than the café had been.

Doyoung knew he was smart before but now he knew he was a genius. Considering the mountain range only a mile away, the town was keen to sell hiking and travelling equipment to tourists or locals who were eager to visit, the small shop was filled with outdoors survival gear; from tents, to water filltration kits, to hunting weapons. Doyoung suspected he might find shops like this here and they were key tools for survival, Doyoung placed a mental crown on his head, finding himself quite the fit for the title 'king of apocalypse' or something along those lines, he would think about it after he secured himself a safer location.

Placing his bag down on the floor by the door he quickly got to work looking around the shop. He quickly picked out a small pop-out tent, although he would have preferred something more comfortable in size he was smart enough to know that the pop-out tent would save time and energy when setting up and packing-up, something which was highly important in a survival situation. He placed the tent bag next to his first bag and grabbed a second hiking bag from the shelves, this one dark green. He grabbed a few hunting knives and placed them carefully into the bottom of the bag, he kept one out and placed it into the water bottle holder so it would be easier to access when necessary.

Water filters, although not-completely necessary at that moment, could become of great use later so he picked up a few (possibly a few more than necessary) and went to place them into the bag before stopping short. He looked into the bottom of the bag at the knives before shaking his head thoughtfully, he placed the filters onto the floor and grabbed a tourist t-shirt with the pun 'Mountains aren't just funny, they are hill areas!" written in bold letters on the front. He rolled his eyes at the 'joke' and folded the shirt before placing in on top of the knives.

With the knives covered he knew that there was no chance they could cut into any of the other equipment in the bag, he picked up the filters and placed them on top of the shirt, he smirked knowing not many others would have thought to do so with their common level of intelligence. He spent a few more minutes packing necessities such as various types of rope and string, a camping stove and items used to make fire before moving the final bag to the door. He surveyed his items before deciding to hide them under a rack of hiking appropriate clothing, the long trouser legs covering from sight.

He had secured what he thought to be important surviving tools but now he knew he had to find a suitable place to use as shelter, as planned early that day he would go to a decently sized convenience store with minimal exits and set up shelter there, of course barricading the entrance and any exits, that location would be secure for months with the amount of food and drinks, electricity wouldn't be an issue either, if he calculated correctly then the country would be able to keep the power running for at least three months, six depending on how fast the infection spread.

With a plan in mind, the brunette grabbed a hiking stick, pulling of the end to reveal the pointed mental and left the shop. The area was still quiet, the citizens still in hiding and the only sign of possible infection being the limping 'person' he had seen fifteen minutes before. The first convenience store he came across that wasn't closed was on the small size, he looked around and snagged two water bottles off the shelves before deeming the shop too small, he guessed there was not even two month's worth of food there and that was including perishables that would have to be used within the next few days. Before leaving he grabbed a bright piece of crafting paper and some tape and stuck it to the wall outside, if he left a noticeable mark he would be able to go back later and collect long-lasting foods, and drinks with hydrating qualities to store in his own shop, which would enable him to stay for a longer period of time without worry of having to go outside and face the infection to look for food or drink.

The second and third stores he found had similar issue, only one of them was bigger, the front entrance had double automatic doors and too many exits meaning it would be harder to barricade and secure, particularly as it was connected to an apartment which he was almost certain had a civilian hiding inside. He sighed and turned back around not wanting to stray too far from where he had hidden his current supplies. He knew that it was a long shot to find a 'perfect' store to temporarily borrow from the community, but he had hope with his usually impeccable luck and almost endless capabilities he it would have existed like planned. He frowned at the thought of having to change his plans to stay in an 'understocked' store that would keep him safe for a smaller period of time.

After a few minutes of walking and silent complaints about his feet hurting, he found a small backstreet only a minute or two walk away from the original convenience store he had found. It was larger in size but only a single door, a good sign in his opinion, but decided not to get his hopes up in case there is a low stock of long-lasting food or water or had too many exits. Clutching the hiking stick tightly he approached the door stealthily and opened the door as quietly as he could, of course that plan went straight to hell as soon as the welcome bell chimed loudly. Doyoung knew he had fucked up and cursed under his breathe, praying that there was nothing lethal lurking in the surprisingly friendly looking shop.

He stood silently for a few second, the only noise coming from the door as it fell into a slow close. After not hearing any noise to indicate a threat he let his body relax slightly but kept a firm hold on his weapon. The shop was nicely sized with at least eight aisles of foods, one for cold drinks and one for shelved drink such as carton of juice that only needed to be refrigerated when opened and the last few shelves were for refrigerated foods and other everyday items like tissues and cleaning products.

Doyoung bent down to look at some of the canned goods on the bottom shelf when he noticed a shadow loom over him, he reacted quickly, standing but not having time to turn as he felt the cold slither of a blade caress his neck. He stood still but didn't allow his body to tense and show his apprehension towards the situation.

"Drop your weapon" the voice spoke from behind, it was quiet but Doyoung managed to catch how the words seemed to be accented suggesting that the person was foreign, based off some of the pointless meeting his parents held he was sure that the person came from China, Hong Kong or Taiwan but he couldn't be sure. He was brought out of his thoughts and back to the situation when he felt the knife dig into his neck slightly causing him to wince. He quickly dropped the stick from his hands and held them up to the air in surrender, he heard as the perpetrator kicked the weapon away and it slid across the floor.

"Don't make any sudden movements" he gave a subtle nod and after a few seconds felt as the threat was removed from his neck and the person backed away a few steps. The brunette turned slowly, keeping his hands in the air as to not cause any pointless injures. The appearance of the ~~man~~ boy was surprising, he was young, only around Doyoung's own age, his soft brown hair hung lightly across his forehead and in any other situation he may have described him as handsome but he had just threatened him with a knife so Doyoung didn't think he deserved that compliment.

"You should leave, I'm barricading this place up" the boy said, once again breaking Doyoung out of his thought. As the words registered he threw the foreign boy a disgruntled look before folding his arms up to his chest in defiance. "No way, I spend over an hour looking for my perfect shop and I'm not letting some foreign child take it from me. The other boy seemed startled by the response but quickly schooled his expression into a blanker look. "No, you have to leave! I found it first and I'm no child, at least no more than you are".

Doyoung eyed the boy for a minute before sighing, neither of them wanted to leave the shop so he would just have to come up with an ultimatum. He could just let the boy join him, it would be easier to transport his equipment from the camping store and there would be more than enough food to last the both of them months as long as they went and cleared out the other convenience stores in the area. He nodded his head, the idea sounding plausible in his head.

"Fine, how about we both stay here. I have supplies in a shop a few minutes away, you can grab some as well and we can bring them back here". The boy eyed him suspicious for a minute as he thought through the words but then nodded carefully. "That sounds like a good idea but the food will not last as long with both of us" the boy said, clearly trying to scope out how he really felt with this alliance, Doyoung had to give it to him he was at least somewhat smart.

"Food shouldn't be a problem, there are at least three of other food stores close by, if we clear out anything we don't need from here then there will be plenty of additional space to put all the food and drinks from those stores which means there will be enough to last the both of us at least three months and that's if we are greedy with it, it will last longer if we use it sparingly like we should. The only thing is going backwards and forwards between them would be dangerous and it would take more trips than it is possibly worth" he said, finding a flaw in his own plan. The boy nodded thoughtfully before he seemed to think of something.

"That's true, however there is a white van outside the store and if I am correct the keys to said truck should be kept in the backroom where the staff would keep their things and have break" the boy motioned for him to follow as he walked to the backroom and opened the door. Doyoung stood outside the room waiting for the boy to re-emerge and was surprised when he walked out the room with the keys in hand only a moment later.

"How did you know the van belonged to the store...or where the keys were?" the boy smiled. "Simple. In stores at this size they are likely to have their own van to transport fresh goods, plus with the van parked right outside I connected the dots. As for the keys, if you've ever worked a part-time in a place like this then you've worked them all. They all run in a pretty similar way so it's not hard to guess the layout" he shrugged and Doyoung decided the boy was worthy of being his partner, at least for now.

"I'm Doyoung" he held out his hand in greeting, he decided if they were going to be surviving together for the next however long then they might as well get comfortable with each other and a good way to start is by knowing one another's names. The boy grasped his hand and shook it gently. "I'm Kun and as you so nicely pointed out earlier, I'm not from here. I'm from China" Doyoung nodded and released his hand. "Well we should probably get a move on, it's already getting dark and I'm sure it won't be long before people start ransacking every available place, can you drive?" Doyoung nodded and took the keys from the boys hand and walked out the door in front of him.

"Doyoung".

He turned at the call of his name and was met with Kun holding out his hiking stick towards him, he grabbed it and thanked the boy.

 

**-O nTheEdgeOfReality-**

 

**Time: 19:28**

"I thought you said you could drive!?" Kun asked, clearly infuriated at the van jerked to a stop outside the camping store. "I can...technically?" Doyoung responded bashfully, the foreign boy did not look impressed and gestured for him to continue. "Well I was learning to drive so I don't actually have my licence yet and driving a van is not really the same as driving a car. Kun rolled his eyes and climbed out of the vehicle, he was about to slam the door shut but was quickly stopped by Doyoung, he raised an eyebrow in question.

"The dead things work on sound, they can't see so they follow noise to find their pray. Their senses are heightened due to the lack of their sight". The Chinese boy nodded in understanding, he stored the information as it would certainly save him some trouble if he were to come up against one of the creatures. He closed the door quieter this time and followed the Korean boy towards the entrance only to stop short as he spotted blood on the floor leading into the store, he called Doyoung's name and pulled him back just in time for a creature to appear in the doorway and lunge forward.

It happened faster than Doyoung could process, one second he was by the entrance the next he was tugged back and watched as Kun plunged his knife right through the 'norms' eye with fatal precision, the undead dropping to the floor before he even had the chance to pull the knife out. "Thanks, let's get you a new knife? There are plenty of good hunting knives you can use which are probably better than that one" he said as he looked down at the knife which was still stuck through the creatures' eye socket. Kun nodded, happy with his work and walked over the creature and into the store.

Now aware of the threat, they quickly grabbed the bags and an additional bag that Kun packed for himself and threw them into the back of the truck, making sure to grab the two camping stoves and extra gas for them in case the electric did fail them. They then decided to go back to the clothing store as it was for the best that the Chinese boy was able to stock up on underwear and other clothes, they ended up taking more than originally expected as they had no way of washing the clothes other than the dingy old shower in the employees bathroom and so they would need enough to last them for as long as possible, even if that meant they had to take underwear that was not necessarily the right fit.

With all their items in the back taking up more room than initially anticipated they decided to drop it off at the store and lock up before heading back out for the food. By the time they made it back onto the road the sky was dark, only the light of the streetlamps and headlights of the van casting enough light for them to travel around. The first convenience store was easy to empty as it was the smallest, they managed to get all the items them needed packed into boxes and into the van in only half an hour.

When they made it too the second shop Kun went to exit the van but was quickly stopped by Doyoung who continued to drive past after only a brief moment of stopping. "Why did you leave?" he asked, the shorter boy glanced at him briefly before turning his eyes back to the road. "There was a group of men in there, there was no way they would have just let us waltz in there and share the supplies, instead we would have been left with no van or supplies, it wasn't worth it". Kun nodded, agreeing with the logic and focused on the road ahead.

"This is the last place, when we get back we can close the indoors shutters for tonight and tomorrow we work on barricading the outside of the shop so no one else can try and break in" Doyoung explained as he pulled the van into a stop outside the final convenience store, Kun nodded before quietly getting out of the vehicle, knife clasped tightly in hand as he approached the entrance. The automatic doors slid open as soon as they were close enough, hearing no noise from inside Kun signalled for Doyoung to follow as he walked in slowly, once inside they agreed to split up and check the store for any unwelcomed guests.

Doyoung sighed as he saw how many things had been taken since he had checked earlier that day, he wasn't too disappointed as it appeared to be children or young irresponsible teens who had visited based on the fizzy drinks and sweets which appeared to be the main thing taken. At the middle of the store he met back up with Kun who gave the all clear. He wasn't sure what to think of the young looking Chinese boy, since they had met the other had never showed signs of surprise or hesitation, something which was in all honesty suspicious even for Doyoung who liked to think he was equally as unfazed. The boy was able to go into any situation without fear, even leading the way or defending him when he was almost mauled on by a 'norm'.

Doyoung picked up the box he had finished pilling up and called for Kun for help, the Chinese male appearing in seconds from a separate aisle to help haul the box of drinks up and out into the van. They continued this until all the drinks were in the van and then moved to work on separate aisles to save time as they would be able to carry lighter boxes alone. It took another hour and two false alarms before they were able to make their way back to their 'safe house'. Once they arrived they were quick to exit to the van and unlock the store and began to empty to supplies from the van into the store.

They finished their work quickly, closing and locking everything from inside and closing the shutters to ward off any that would attempt breaking into the store while they rested. Kun had offered to stay up in the off chance that something did happen but Doyoung was fast to argue that they had more work to do tomorrow in securing the shop, the best time being dawn so he would set an alarm for the both of them.

There was not much talking as they lay down multiple blanked they had taken from a shop while they were out and were quick to fall asleep despite the situation they found themselves in.

 

**-:-:-:-:-**

**Date: 25th September, 2016**

**Time: 17:00PM**

**Location: Incheon, South Korea**

**-:-:-:-:-**

 

Wendy scowled as she kicked a rock, the fine-grained solid skipping obnoxiously across the ground. "We've been walking for ages, how much further do we have to go?" she complained quietly, Mark shrugged as he swung the poll backwards and forwards in small motions, just as bored as their female companion.

"It might take a while" Johnny answered quietly and scratched the back of head sheepishly with his weapon-free hand. "I used to take public transport there and I lost my phone early so I'm not exactly sure where we're going, I'm kind of just guessing" he admitted and looked around for any familiar buildings but sighed as he found none. "This probably would have been easier if we didn't have to take back roads but I guess we just have to work with what we've got, I haven't been back here in a few years so I'm not really sure either " Wendy acknowledged.

After walking in silence for a few more steps she repeated the action to a second rocky victim, this time the action earned a glare from Johnny, seeing the look she raised an eyebrow. "What?" she asked, confused at his sudden change in expression.

"I thought we were supposed to be keeping noise to a minimum" he murmured, looking around the surroundings for signs of anything in the immediate vicinity. Wendy shrugged, not believing the sound of a rock to draw anything when they themselves could hear no sounds that would suggest another being - living or not, was in the area around them.

"Chill, we would hear them before they heard us, it's not like we're running around screaming at the top of our lungs" she sassed. Mark rolled his eyes at the two, it was hardly an argument and was just plain annoying but he wasn't going to stop them if it meant they would keep more attention on each other than him, he wasn't in the mood to chat.

Of course his 'alone time' didn't last as he felt an arm sling across his shoulder, by the height he knew it had to be Wendy so he sent a polite smile at her. "Aye, I thought we were closer than that, Mark" she joked, but was quickly distracted again by Johnny who pulled simply removed her arm from around the young teen. "As close as you can get in a zombie filled plane and an hours walk around a now infected city" Wendy threw her arm around Johnny waist this time, clearly not even making an attempt to reach the tall boys shoulders. "Exactly, we're like best bros now" Mark shook his head at the female, amused by her apparent masculinity.

"You're right, what was I thinking, we practically know each other's deep dark secrets" Johnny claimed dramatically, putting his arm around the girl's small shoulders, the height difference looked comical, particularly as they nudged each other, seemingly forgetting about the potential danger that could be lurking the streets.

Every so often Mark saw as Johnny turned, making sure he was still following safely behind but giving him space breathe and think. The younger boy new he was being unfair towards Johnny but every time he thought about his parents and their cowardly actions in the airport he felt angry, unfortunately that anger fell more on Johnny than himself but he knew the older boy was being understanding about the situation.

The older two seemed to quieten down after a while, probably realising how stupid they were being given the situation, instead they began talking in hushed whispers, the atmosphere around them becoming much more serious. Johnny held up his weapon, looking concerned at the way it was already starting to bend, no doubt from the force of the hits, another problem was that Wendy had lost her weapon back at the airport and would need to find another one soon of she was to be able to defend herself, until that time Johnny would ensure nothing got to her but they needed to find one fast.

Looking back, he saw Mark still lightly swinging his own poll, his mind clearly somewhere else as he seemed not focused on anything in particular. He frowned, not happy that the young boy was potentially defenceless when unfocused but didn't want to go back and disturb him as it could annoy him further, which at this point would only damage their relationship further. If Johnny came across more undead that he would need to handle if they can't dodge them, he would probably have to ask the boy for his poll, he could defend him until they found the younger a new weapon, even though he would prefer if he didn't have one at all.

Wendy noticed him staring back and patted his shoulder sympathetically, drawing his attention back towards her and tried to distract him with small-talk, mainly about what their plans were. Wendy agreed to come with them to the apartments so she can rest but then she would head out to try and locate her own friend - Seulgi, who she had offended to house her upon hearing about the infection in America. Johnny prayed that girl's friend was safe and Wendy would be able to join her safely.

A noise coming from an alley to his right made the pink haired boy pause in his steps, he looked towards the two walking in front of him who had continued on, clearly not having heard the noises. He argued with himself for a few seconds before sending one last glance towards his companions and walking into the alley.

The surroundings were dim and the space enclosed but Mark paid little mind to it as he followed the strange scuttling, it led him to the end of the alleyway quickly and Mark froze in his steps. A sick gurgling met him and the sight of a man choking on his own blood followed not even a second later, the man was barely two metres away from the alleys entrance and a deceivingly human-like figure was hunched over the dying man but Mark knew better. Of course his approach had been anything but silent and the dead man's eyes quickly found his. The figure was lunging towards him before he could even blink and Mark found himself working on autopilot, his arms swinging the poll in his hands before he could even register the movement.

The hit was hard and fast, if this had been a human the hit to the neck would have caused irreversible damage but of course it did nothing more than force the creature down to the floor. It's surprisingly agile body was up again in seconds, it haunting moans directed at him as it once again lunged towards him. He moved back, not having time to do much else, the fingertips of the creature barely grazing his jacket but not securing a hold on him. He heard movement from further back and saw the man- whose neck had been torn into brutally, swaying on his feet, his now glazed over eyes set on him.

Not knowing what else to do he ran, he called out for Johnny as he did so, his mind not knowing where it was leading him but just wanting to escape the danger he was in. After a few minutes he stopped, he breathed heavily and bent over slightly in an attempt to catch his breath, his palms resting on his knees for stability. It was after he had calmed down, his mind no longer blurred by adrenaline that he realised his mistake -he had not run back, back to Johnny and Wendy, back to the safety of their presence. He had made a fatal mistake and he was sure he would now lose his life for it, unable to apologise for his out-of-order behaviour to a life-long friend.

He felt tears in his eyes as breathing picked up, he started to threat about what he was going to do now he was alone in an unfamiliar city that was on its way to becoming overrun. He closed his eyes as he tried to calm himself, only to tense up again when he felt a hand land on his shoulder.

 

**-O nTheEdgeOfReality-**

 

"If I remember correctly, the station should be close to here and from there it's only a ten minute walk to Taeil's apartment" Johnny assured the female as he squinted to look at some of the sign boards ahead. Wendy sighed but nodded in resignation. "When you say close, how close are we talking? You said close half an hour ago as well but we're not in sight if any station" Johnny rubbed his forehead in annoyance but silently agreed as he had done as such. "It should be here-".

Wendy put her hand up, silencing him, she looked in concentration for a second and stopped him from talking once again when he tried to ask what was wrong. "Did you hear that? It sounded like you were being called..." she trailed off and quickly swung around and gasped. Johnny was quick to follow her movements and saw Mark nowhere in sight.

"Where'd he go, he was there a minute ago!" he panicked, quickly backtracking, while Wendy stayed still trying to listen out for the voice again, hearing it in the distance but unable to identify where it was coming from. "Wendy, let's go!" the tall male called as he jogged, stopping when he found an alley. "Mark!" he called and heard movement from the end of the alley, he maneuvered past the bins lining the walls and made it to the end of the alley.

A sudden force slammed his body into the wall but he was fast enough to shove the mental rod into the infecteds' mouth, pushing it away enough to stop it biting him. "Move, move, move, move!" he heard and was quick to shove the creature away enough for Wendy to hit it with a metal bin, both the creature and bin flying to the ground upon impact. He flinched at the metallic ring from the fall but was quick to pull Wendy back down the alley as to more biters approached the entrance. "We need to go! We've just attracted any attention in the area to ourselves" he met with little resistance, the two of them easily falling into a run when they were back down the alley.

"What about Mark?" Johnny almost faltered in his steps but managed to continue on, dragging Wendy slightly as she began to slow down.  "We can go around, but that area isn't safe. I believe he'll be okay until we find him but until then we need to stay safe ourselves" the guilt was almost overwhelming but he kept to them, there was no way they could help him when they were both now weapon less. "I guess you're r-right" she managed to say, her breathing deep as they finally slowed to a stop.

Looking around he managed to spot the building they had fruitlessly been searching for, for a little under an hour, he grabbed his companions jacket and shook it to get her attention, she turned, her eyes lighting up as she saw the building. "We're close! Okay, we need to go there, grab a weapon and then find Mark. Does he still have his phone?" Johnny tried to remember but just shrugged when he found he also had no idea, Wendy sighed but quickly thought of a solution. "Once we get to your friend's apartment, we'll trying calling him. If you can remember his number it will be easier but if not your friend might have it or something".

"What if that doesn't work" he saw her think again, her face serious and frustration but knew her genius had struck again as her face lit up. "If that falls through we'll just have do to it the hard way and search ourselves" his face dropped, his hope for a better plan lost but nodded knowing it was the only thing they would be able to do.

"Alright, let's go" he affirmed and turned the corner to reach the station. Of course it was then they both registered the noise, the main street was a disaster unlike the quiet backstreet where even there death was waiting to strike. There was a mess of cars, many abandoned as the road was blocked, no way through on the road. Johnny searched for a way through, then pointed towards the cars, Wendy looked at him in confusion but followed along. Once he was at the first car, he quickly climbed on top, Wendy was quick to catch on and latched onto Johnny's offered hand so he could help her onto the cars.

The metal was hard but unsteady, Johnny cursing the movies for giving the impression that travelling on cars was easier than it actually was. He ran across them, keeping a careful speed so he wouldn't fall but spun around as he heard a scream of his name. He watched as Wendy was pulled from the car, only to be lost to the crowd seconds later, he frantically searched but saw nothing. The brunette was forced to continue moving when he felt a hand tug at his ankle, him barely escaping the grasp upright, he looked back regretfully but quickly continued on his way across.

When he glanced back he swore he saw a flash of blue in the crown, prompting him to stop and shout for the female but was once again interrupted as another fleeing citizen who had also taken to seek shelter on the cars, ran into him causing him to fall to ground. The impact of the ground was far worse than expected, pain exploded through his head as it made contact with the ground, his vision blurring and his mind confused as it tried to focus on what had happened. It was of no use as he felt his vision start to fade and his mind shut down, he could have sworn he felt someone shaking him but could do nothing other than comply with his bodies wish to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not really sure what to say, I guess I feel slightly disappointed and disheartened by the lack of comments we received during our last update (which was a double update). Only one person commented between the two chapters, so thank you to 'azvrr' who left us a lovely comment, it really made the both of us really happy! 
> 
> I don't want you guys to think we are pressuring you but it can be hard to find inspiration when there is next to no feedback given :( 
> 
> I'm sorry if this annoyed anyone and I hope you really enjoy this update :)


	5. Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Yuta's a pro golfer and Hansol picks the worst possible time to go to the store.

**Date: September 26 th, 2016**

**Time: 20:17pm**

**Location: Incheon Airport (ICN)**

\--

Yuta’s first thought was that Hansol might have been slightly omitting parts of the truth when he’d said everything was fine in Korea.

He made sure to keep a tight hold Hina’s hand so as not to lose her as he dashed behind a turnstile and pulled them both down into a crouch so that they could remain unseen by both monster and human alike. His breath rushed out in a huff and he worked to reassure Hina who was trembling without having to make any sound. “Shh It’s gonna be okay just follow me and try to stay quiet,” he whispered, rubbing short circles into the back of her hand and trying to calculate their best possible route if they were to get out of there intact.

“I’ll try,” she murmured in response, shuffling slightly when her legs began to cramp up from being crouched in the same position for too long. Yuta grinned, trying his best to seem completely in-charge and calm despite his own internal panic. “Good girl,” his words were barely a whisper but her face brightened when Yuta lifted his other hand and ruffled the girl’s messy hair with it.

That’s where their luck ran out as Yuta made note of shuffling sounds approaching their direction and pulled them from their crouch, Hina stumbling slightly at the sudden motion, just in time for one of those creatures to blindly stumble its way around the corner and lunge at the floor that had previously been their seat just seconds before. Hina squeaked, still unused to the somewhat-grotesque appearance of the new predators and it automatically turned milky eyes on them, dragging itself along the floor and leaving a sodden trail of blood in it’s wake as it made it’s way in their in their general direction in lieu of standing up in pursuit. The site probably would have made Yuta gag at one point but he was much too focused on the adrenaline coursing through his veins to fall into the familiar routine of fear and flight.

Without thinking, he slammed his hand across Hina’s mouth and pulled them a few steps to the left, just enough that they would no longer be directly in the things line of fire but close enough that they wouldn’t lose sight of it and therefore put themselves in even more danger.

It was impossible to say how they managed to attract such little attention considering they were hardly being quiet despite their best efforts but that could have been attributed to the general bustle of the airports open space, only amplified by the chaos that currently reigned within its walls.

“Okay Hina, listen to me,” Yuta turned the girl so she was facing him and spoke in urgent but hushed tones.

“In a minute we’re going to run. I’m not going to let go of your hand but I need you to trust me and try your best to keep up. I know it’s scary and I know that you don’t really have any reason to trust a word I’m saying to you right now but just know that I have your best interests in mind and those interests include getting the hell out of here as soon as possible.”

Hina’s only response was a brisk nod of the head and a slight steeling of her tearful eyes but that was all Yuta needed to know that she was on board and that she wouldn’t hinder him by stopping mid-journey unless it was for something unavoidable .

“All right let’s go!” he exclaimed, taking off in a sprint towards the closest possible exist with a panting Hina not too far behind him. It had looked like clear cut path but Yuta had never been very good at fully evaluating his surroundings which was why he’d never been good at contact sports or obstacle courses which was why part of his mind wasn’t even surprised when his foot snagged on a wayward suitcase and he fell hard on his knees with an audible clack.

It was clear that Hina wasn’t aware that she had lost her partner at first as she continued to run, managing to dodge obstacles on the ground with ease but she must have sensed the loss of contact because she spun on her heel moments later, eyes wide with horror as she took in the sight of Yuta no longer on his feet or running.

That wasn’t part of the plan, Yuta was meant to be guiding her and she’d never thought about how she’d take control if the situation were to suddenly fall under her control unexpectedly.

Yuta wasn’t really hurt, he was more than used to falling on his knees and he’d long since been effected by small falls. It was the shock that’d kept him down momentarily and then the horrified look in Hina’s eyes when she’d turned to see him there. It was with more than a little confusion he watched her grab a sleek black umbrella from where it was propped up against a set of benches and charge in his direction as though her intention was impale him with the blunted metal end of the contraption.

He was about to call out for her to stop when she dived to the side and hit a button on the handle-end of the umbrella which caused it to inflate to its usual dome-like shape. The way she stumbled showed that the action hadn’t been Hina’s original intention but It served its purpose when the biter that had been approaching quietly from behind Yuta was knocked off of its feet which caused it to stumble before crashing against the plate glass that served as both a wall and a window and causing it to give out in a rain of crystal shards and a rather loud crashing sound.

Yuta was torn between feeling thankful that some kid he’d picked up on a whim had just saved his ass, awed at the spectacle the rain of glass had created and really terrified because he could literally feel the eyes of every living (and unliving) being in a 100 meter vicinity turn to stare in their direction before beginning to make their way towards them.

Scrambling to feet with much less finesse than last time, Yuta gave up on any idea of being covert and ran, letting out a huff of pained air when he realised belatedly that Hina was following closely behind him and he hadn’t jut inadvertently left her behind through lack of thinking (a bad habit that he really needed to break out of, or so Hansol and his older sister told him time and time again.)

“Plan aborted, forget I said anything before!” Yuta shouted, not stopping to make sure that the intended recipient had actually heard him and instead trusting her to not fall behind and figure out their plan had just changed to flat-out survival.

“Yuta!” Hina exclaimed from several paces behind and the aforementioned was about to turn and make sure that she was okay when a spotted a fast one coming at him from the corner of his vision. Thinking fast and putting his years of college football into practice, Yuta dropped low and kicked his left leg out straight sending a forgotten luggage bag careening into the things shins and causing it to wobble before crashing to the ground in a tangle of uncoordinated limbs and garbled sounds (Yuta secretly counted that as victory against not only the biter but the stupid luggage that had tripped him earlier). Without thinking he brought his foot down on the things head heavy and heard a satisfying crunch followed by the thing stopping moving all together. Yuta wasn’t sure whether to think that he was really awesome or that he’d just kicked someone’s head in without a second thought (he’d decide later.)

Reaching the exit was easier than he would have anticipated but with all the attention on the broken window from before, the large dome that served as both an entrance and an exit was mostly clear of foot traffic save for the occasional biter than dragged it’s feet without direction and a guy that ran ahead of them, not caring for those around him as he made his escape from their manic surroundings.

Fresh air was a welcome feeling. Yuta hadn’t realised how cooped up he’d begun to feel but the chill September air gave him pause to rearrange his jumbled thoughts and begin his plan anew. Somehow, he needed to find his way to back to Hansol’s and his apartment, preferably before nightfall as blindness would only serve as an unwelcome disadvantage.

“Yuta Nii—” Hina muttered, tugging at his sleeve lightly to ensure that she had his full attention. Her hair was tousled and her eyes a little too-bright but Yuta was pleased to note that she no longer appeared to be afraid. “We have to go,” she continued, tugging a little more urgently on his sleeve and beginning to move forward at a brisk walk, clearly displeased with their lack of progress towards wherever their destination may be.

“Of course,” Yuta assured, clearing still distracted as his eyes shot from side to side, noting all the small details his brain could handle (which admittedly, wasn’t much. Yuta had been what you’d call a ‘Jock’ at school rather than academically inclined.) His eyes only cleared when his foot caught the edge of something soft and almost sent him careening towards the floor for the second time in a shorter span of time than he’d admit. Maybe it was horror that briefly clouded his gaze as he noticed the soft thing was an arm, one that was no longer attached to its usual appendages, but it was gone so fast that there was no way to be sure.

From there it was easy to take hurried steps until they were clear of the expansive car park that surrounded the airport. It was with relative ease that the pair navigated the fairly desolate surroundings, it was almost easier to not communicate despite the fact that it made it harder to predict each other’s moves due to a lack of familiarity.

Yuta thanked his lucky stars that he’d made this same trip from Incheon airport to his temporary place of residence so many times in the past that it kind of felt like muscle memory at this point because it allowed him to compartmentalize his thoughts as they moved yet another narrow street  down which they were met with more silence.

He’d joked so many times about the end of the world, sometimes frustrated and sometimes in jest but always as if it were a completely fictional concept. Yuta wasn’t sure whether he was still stuck in the misconception that this was just another bad dream that he’d eventually wake up from.

The high rise apartment buildings all sort of looked the same but Yuta made a mental note that they weren’t far from their goal as they passed the small, family-owned store where he and Hansol usually did their shopping because neither of them were particularly well-off and the old lady that manned the counter like to coo about how cute they were and give them discounts and the occasional freebie. Mrs. Choi hailed them before they could completely pass and Yuta found that he couldn’t just blow her off (even if he had more important things to be doing at the very moment in time.)

 

As they stepped inside the small, cluttered foyer Mrs. Choi raised a speculative eyebrow in Hina’s direction and Yuta found heat rising to his cheeks at the silent implication, shaking his head aggressively to ward off whatever she may have been implying.

“Mrs. Choi, shouldn’t you be heading home?” He asked instead, trying to immediately steer the conversation in a more favourable direction. “It’s getting pretty dangerous out there and I’m somehow doubting anyone’s gonna be granting you common courtesy. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but chivalry is dead, literally.” He tacked he last word on in an attempt at a joke and the boyish smile on his face must have brought the older lady some joy as her eyes sparkled with mirth in response. “Son, chivalry’s been dead for years. I’ll be damned if my husband was any faster to hold open a door for me than any of those nibblers out there.” It was Hina who giggled at that and it was a refreshing sound, the first Yuta had heard since picking the girl up on a whim in Japan. It made him feel like, maybe everything just might be okay.

“Be sure that you and this little lady make it home to that cute boyfriend of yours before dark though, they ain’t be too kind around these parts if what I’m hearing is correct. Don’t wanna see anything bad happen to my best customers.” There was a strict undertone to her light-hearted words and Yuta found himself glancing backwards to check the position of the sun in the sky and finding the sky dimming at an alarming rate.

“We should go Mrs. Choi but please take care of yourself!” Yuta urged, already moving backwards towards the door with Hina following quietly behind.

Mrs. Choi stopped him briefly, pushing a plastic bag into his hand and then urging him forwards once again. “I was gonna give to Hansol but since you’re here I know it’ll be delivered safely. You boys always smile a little brighter when you’re together and if that ain’t something to live for I don’t know what is.”

If it hadn’t been so late, Yuta would have loved nothing more than to hang around and catch up with the woman who’d been nothing but accepting since she assumed their relationship almost a whole year before they even began dating.

“It’s just at the end of this street, the coast looks pretty clear so we should probably just make a run for it and hope for the best,” Yuta informed Hina noting that the area didn’t seem as severely hit as others and it was something to be grateful for.

For someone who seemed so shy, Hina looked more like a track star as she darted across the open space and waved at Yuta from the relative safety of the apartment block lobby. It was easy to step out into the open space and follow her lead, undeterred by a stray cat (one that he and Hansol affectionately referred to as Teacup because of it’s small size,) crossed his path and attempted to rub itself against his legs before rolling onto it’s belly and watching his retreat with a sad aura that usually would have made Yuta feel bad until he was forced to go and smother it with attention.

The only thing stopping him from feeling bad was the fact that he had something much more important to do, Hansol was within reach with meant that it was only so long before he could possibly begin to feel safe again and that was something that Yuta desired more than anything else.  The second thing would be stability, something that had been severely lacking within the past twenty four hours and he personally couldn’t wait for his word to be sitting straight on it’s axis again, even if only for a short while.

“Let’s go!” Hina’s voice echoed in the empty parking lot and Yuta couldn’t help the way his head shot from side to side in a reflex action to check for danger that may have been drawn by the noise. There was nothing but the action made Yuta move faster across the lot, eager to be away from the looming threat that surrounded them as constant, eager to be reunited with the one person who could probably make him feel safe in that moment.

The Lobby was empty, unsurprising considering the security guard probably had better things to be doing with his life than sitting around waiting to become live bait for whatever those things out there were. However it looked much the same, the rundown interior consisting of off-white wallpaper and carpet that was more worn than it was worth at that point.

“If things are the same as they were before I left then the elevator is probably still _out of service_ so we’re gonna have to take the stairs. We’re only three floors up so It shouldn’t take us too long,” Yuta wasn’t sure if he was talking to himself or Hina but the younger girl nodded in affirmation none the less and followed closely behind him when he slowly made his way towards the fire exit that would lead them to the washed-out stairwell. “Don’t leave my sight but make sure to watch your back, I know this place pretty well but that doesn’t mean that we’re not going to run into any unwelcome surprises.” It was odd, to have to think about someone other that himself when surviving was his only real goal at that moment, but Hina was a smart girl and she followed instructions easily without him having to expand on what he meant every time.

It almost felt like home, the worn carpet underfoot and a sure destination in mind but Yuta didn’t slow his footsteps, he’d had enough surprises for one day and he wasn’t really in the mood to wait and see if any more wanted to sneak up on him.

They’d barely made it up one flight of stairs when the sound of shuffling from above alerted Yuta to the fact that they weren’t entirely alone. He held up a hand, hoping Hina would get the message and stop moving, they needed to assess how dangerous their current situation was before making any more moves. It was clear that she tried but her shoe must have caught the edge of the step she was balancing on and screech of the old metal was loud enough that anyone several floors up would have realised that they were no longer alone.

The moan was the biggest tell-tale sign that their newest companion was a lost puppy looking for it’s own, much less someone that they really wanted to be running into when they were so close to their destination at last.

Yuta backed up several steps, forcing Hina to do the same behind him until they were safely on one of the flat landings between the winding flights of stairs. It only took a second from their for their adversary to show itself, in the form a lumbering figure slipping on the top step from the landing above them and falling the remainder of the way, hitting several steps on the way down a distinctly metallic clang that could have only been the set of golf clubs that were hooked over one of his shoulders. Yuta would have recognised that ugly Hawaiian shirt paired with a beret and sunglasses anywhere. He’d never gotten along that well with his and Hansol’s neighbour Wu Yi Fan (Or Kris as he liked to try and tell them went they went as far as to communicate with him.) and he didn’t commonly wish bad upon others but if Kris was in a room with Jafar from Aladdin and the guy who shot Bambi’s dad and he only had two bullets, he’d definitely shoot Kris twice.

Hina let out a shriek of protest when the body came to rest a few feet from her position and Yuta was about to reprimand her but Kris was already climbing to his feet, revealing a bloody, dislocated jaw and unseeing eyes which had become a pretty common indicator of an unfriendly visit.

It was child’s play to grasp on of the golf-clubs from his carry bag and swing it towards Kris’ head, the dead man not noticing as he was too focused on moving towards Hina who was inching along the wall to get away from him but trying to keep his attention away from Yuta as she could see what he was trying to accomplish. Just before he brought the club down, Yuta noted how the skin around Kris’ red was red and torn, indicating some sort of scuffle had taken place and his hand was bathed in red, crimson droplets falling from his fingertips in a macabre symphony of drops.

Yuta thought that maybe it would be a story he could laugh about later with Hansol, the way he’d finally been able to deal with their annoying neighbour and not have to bear the consequences of the action, but at the moment, he found himself unable to look at the bloody body which had promptly fallen to the floor once again. “Let’s go,” he muttered to Hina, who hadn’t moved from her spot against the wall since Yuta had taken the first swing, whether it was because she was maybe a little but traumatised because she’d just had to watch him murder someone at close range or whether she was a little bit afraid of the callous, seemingly uncaring way he’d done it.

No more words were spoken between them as they ascended the next flight of stairs, finding the landing that Kris must have been on when he took his final breaths, Yuta pushed the bloody towel that lay at his feet aside with a swift kick, his mind unable or unwilling to comprehend the meaning behind such an item with the memory of what he’d just done still so fresh.

The third floor was largely the same as he remembered it with it’s terrible wallpaper and standard but ugly maroon doors that each led to someone’s home, someone’s life that Yuta had never really cared for before he no longer had a chance to learn. His and Hansol’s apartment, number 136, was just a short ways down the hall and Yuta walked towards it with confident steps, unable to shake the feeling that he wasn’t ready for what he might find behind that door, and whether he’d be able to do what was necessary if the outcome wasn’t favourable towards his happy ending.

Hina was trailing behind, not unusual in the time since they’d started travelling together but her distance and silence was more of out respect for Yuta’s obvious mood, she wasn’t going to try and strike up a conversation when he clearly didn’t feel like talking. If the older boy needed some time to clear his head then she was more than happy to give him that time considering all that he’d done for since saving her at the Kyoto airport out of nothing more than goodwill.

She didn’t realise that the older man had come to a stop until she almost walked right passed him and continued down the long hallway. He wasn’t talking, just staring blankly ahead at the door which read 136 in faded bronze lettering.

“This one,” she questioned, already confident in her assumption but wanting to hear a verbal confirmation all the same.

“Yeah,” came Yuta’s monotone reply, clearly unwilling to say more as he searched through his pockets for something or another, presumably a key that would allow them passage inside and finally end the longest day they’d ever had to live through.

Before she could say anything and without any warning, Yuta had wedged the end of the gold club that he was till carrying into the small space between the old door and the frame and pushed all his weight against it, the sound of wood splintering and breaking filling the empty hallway for a few long second. “What are you doing?” Hina hissed, trying to pull his arm away but he was much stronger than her and he didn’t flinch at her attempts to stop him.

“Forgot my key and we need to get in,” he explained, as though what he was doing wasn’t completely and utterly insane. The door gave way with a screech of protest and Yuta was immediately met with the sight of an angry head of orange hair and not the smiling face of his boyfriend which caused his confidence to drop, thinking that he might have just broken down the door to the wrong room and earned himself the ire of another angry resident which was the last thing he needed right at that moment.

“I’m going to give one minute to explain why you just did that before I through you over to balcony and make you biter bait,” the threat was clear in the unknown females voice and Yuta stumbled over his words trying to get out an explanation that made sense in their current situation.

“I—that it to say this… My boyfriend lives here I think?” It came out sounding more like a question than an answer and Yuta could tell that the girl was no less impressed with his explanation than she had been with his initial actions. He struggled with what else he could say but the girl was already walking back into the apartment, clearly done with whatever explanation he was willing to give but not pushing him away either, maybe he’d said something that caught her attention?

“Hansol will be back soon, he’ll be the judge of whether your stupid ass gets punted off the balcony. I can’t really decide who gets to leave or stay in his apartment at the end of the day. Anyway, if you’re who I think you are then he’ll probably let you off easy.” The words relit the fire of hope in Yuta’s heart and he found himself pushing forward, not even checking to make sure Hina was following, eager to find out more upon the mention of Hansol’s name.

“He’s here?” He inquired eagerly, unwilling to let the chance to gather information slip through his fingers when it was literally right in front of him.

“Well, not right now but he’ll be back from his supply run soon and I dare say he’ll be to happy with the state of the front door considering the security at the downstairs entrance is clearly more than lacking.” Yuta couldn’t be sure but he thought that maybe she had a victorious little smirk on her face while she was relaying that information, probably imagining the height of his own mental panic in the following moments.

“My name’s Seulgi by the way! Kang Seulgi. I’m staying with Hansol for a while although he’d probably call it freeloading if you asked.” Her tone was light and playful but Yuta could see the way she continuously shot glances towards the door, which he’d propped up haphazardly against the frame, as though she was expecting something untoward to pop up at any given moment.

“I’m Yuta, Hansol’s boyfriend who’ll probably be dead once he gets home. Although I guess you already knew all of that considering your earlier statement.” It felt nice to make introductions as though he hadn’t spent the last few hours literally fighting for his life in a world were nothing made sense anymore.

Hina was still standing quietly against the wall, likely unsure of how to shuffle into the conversation which was already too difficult to understand between the two adults.

“This is Hina, I found her while I was leaving Kyoto and she’s been a pretty kickass sidekick since then. The kid knows how to protect herself better than I do to be honest,” the introduction drew a giggle from Hina and Yuta felt proud that he could at least do that.

“We’re holding up pretty well here at the moment but we’re running out of supplies fast since Hansol didn’t have much stored in the first place so he’d been having to go further and further out to gather supplies and he won’t let me go along because of some outdated misogynistic notion that women aren’t as capable as men—” Yuta cut her off there, finding it only slightly hilarious how off topic she’d managed to get in the span of a couple of seconds.

“I’m sure he’s never said that to you and he probably just wanted someone to stay home so that they could protect the apartment, might as well keep a safe space for as long as possible right?” He didn’t think about what he was saying until Seulgi smirked again, only then did he realise that he’d set himself up for the coming remark.

“You mean like some crazed maniac wielding a golf cub who decides to break down our door for literally no good reason and then be unable to explain himself? I wouldn’t have believed it until I experienced it to be honest.” Her tone was in jest but Yuta stopped for a minute to really think about what they were gonna do now that he’d quite literally broken down their last method of defence.

“I guess we’re gonna have to figure out what we’re gonna do next? We can’t stay here surely but I don’t think Hansol’s going to want to move far since this is the most familiar place for him and we’ve been here for as long as I can remember.”

It was a dilemma that they were going to have to face sooner rather than later and Yuta couldn’t help but feel bad that he’d made it come to this.

“I guess—There are a lot of empty apartments on this floor alone so It probably won’t be too much trouble to climb from one balcony to another and set up camp in one of those for a while.” Seulgi commented, not sounding terribly upset about having to climb over balconies when they were literally hundreds of feet in the air but the it did give Yuta an idea.

“Well I did kill Kris, our neighbour on the way up here so I guess his place is free by now. Don’t ask, I’m only going to tell this story once and that’ll be once Hansol get’s home.”

Seulgi shook her head in response, “I wasn’t going to ask, I heard he was an asshole anyway.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so this is short and terribly written but I'm literally cutting it 9 minutes until my two-month deadline right now so It's gonna have to do.
> 
> I hope y'all enjoy Yuta being a stupid headass, I do so enjoy writing it after all.
> 
> Thank you for all the comments on the last chapter, it was so nice to see that so many people were actually reading and enjoying the story, please leave us some kudos and comments to let us know what you thought of the chapter!
> 
> -lala


	6. Author's Note

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not A chapter, just a quick note from your (immensely sorry) authors.

After some consideration, Pandi and I have decided to put this story on Hiatus. This doesn't mean that we intend to abandon this fic, we could never as we've been continuously developing the plot and characters for almost 2 years now. However, we are struggling with the concept of updating within a fixed schedule as we're both busy with real life and we (mostly me) struggle to write with a deadline looming over our heads and still produce quality content.

We'll still be writing the story during our hiatus, we just hope that without the threat of deadlines, we'll be able to get the quality of our writing back to how it was in the beginning. This fic is still only in it's early stages, we may or may not have mentioned before but it was consist of 3/4 story arcs.

The 1st arc which we're currently writing consists of roughly 24 chapters and is divided into two 12-chapter halves so we aren't even a quarter of the way done with the first 3rd of this fic yet.

we hope you understand and we hope to see you again when we return!

-Lala and Pandi


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